Are Sensory Experiences of One’s Deceased Spouse Associated with Bereavement-Related Distress?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Are Sensory Experiences of One’s Deceased Spouse Associated with Bereavement-Related Distress?

AU - Kamp, Karina S.

AU - Moskowitz, Andrew

AU - Due, Helena

AU - Spindler, Helle

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.

PY - 2024/8

Y1 - 2024/8

N2 - Following late-life spousal bereavement, sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased (SED) are commonly reported. This longitudinal study examined SED among 310 older widowed adults 6–10 (T1) and 18–20 (T2) months post loss. Reports of SED in the first 6–10 months after loss were associated with higher symptom levels of prolonged grief, post-traumatic stress, and loneliness at T1. Experiencers of SED were more likely to experience symptoms of prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress above cut-off scores at T1. Importantly, only a minority of the experiencers of SED displayed these elevated levels of bereavement-related distress. In addition, employing multi-level-modeling, a similar trajectory of decreasing bereavement-related distress over time was found for both experiencers and non-experiencers of SED. We argue that SED may be one of several potential reactions to bereavement, which should not be seen as an indicator of grief complications per se.

AB - Following late-life spousal bereavement, sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased (SED) are commonly reported. This longitudinal study examined SED among 310 older widowed adults 6–10 (T1) and 18–20 (T2) months post loss. Reports of SED in the first 6–10 months after loss were associated with higher symptom levels of prolonged grief, post-traumatic stress, and loneliness at T1. Experiencers of SED were more likely to experience symptoms of prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress above cut-off scores at T1. Importantly, only a minority of the experiencers of SED displayed these elevated levels of bereavement-related distress. In addition, employing multi-level-modeling, a similar trajectory of decreasing bereavement-related distress over time was found for both experiencers and non-experiencers of SED. We argue that SED may be one of several potential reactions to bereavement, which should not be seen as an indicator of grief complications per se.

KW - auditory-verbal hallucination

KW - hallucination

KW - loneliness: non-clinical population

KW - prolonged grief disorder

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128950683&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/00302228221078686

DO - 10.1177/00302228221078686

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35384752

AN - SCOPUS:85128950683

SN - 0030-2228

VL - 89

SP - 895

EP - 915

JO - Omega (United States)

JF - Omega (United States)

IS - 3

ER -