Trajectories of Insomnia Following Bereavement

Method

In the current investigation, 220 recently bereaved (≤6 months post-loss) participants, completed questionnaires assessing sociodemographic and loss-related characteristics, rumination, experiential avoidance and symptoms of (prolonged) grief and depression, on three time-points (6 months apart). We applied growth mixture models to investigate the typical trajectories of insomnia symptoms following bereavement. Results: Three insomnia trajectory classes emerged, characterized by a resilient (47 %), recovering (43 %), and a chronic trajectory (10 %).

Baseline depression symptoms best predicted the type of insomnia trajectory. At one-year follow-up, 9 %, 27 %, and 60 % of participants met the criteria for probable PGD within the resilient, recovering and chronic trajectory, respectively. A parallel process model showed that temporal changes in insomnia symptoms were strongly related to changes in prolonged grief symptoms.

Conclusion: The results suggest, that targeting insomnia symptoms in the treatment of PGD, particularly with comorbid depression, may be a viable option.