Psicoterapia di gruppo psicodinamica e supportiva nel lutto complicato: aspetti teorico-clinici e risultati della ricerca

Grief is a natural response to a loss and a condition that most people experience several times during their lives. Following the death of a loved one, a small group of grievers exhibits an intense and prolonged reaction, termed complicated grief (CG), a potential disabling condition that affects approximately 10% of bereaved people. Fifty-five percent of hospices appear to have high capacity to provide screening for CG and depression and to deliver group or individual psychotherapy. Both psychodynamic and supportive short term group psychotherapy (STGP) have been shown to be effective in treating CG. The purpose of this paper is to describe the group therapeutic factors, studied by Irvin Yalom, the criteria that define therapeutic group in complicated grief as a “specialized group”, and to analyze the literature on research outcomes about the relationship between group process in the two forms of STGP and several clinical variables such as: group composition and cohesion, pattern of therapeutic alliance, alexithymia, individuals personality traits, expression of affect, patients quality of object relations, social support, and psychological mindedness.