Bereavement after caregiving.

Approximately 20% of bereaved caregivers will experience a variety of psychiatric symptoms including depression and/or complicated grief, a disorder characterized by persistently high levels of distress that impair functioning in important life domains. We identify prebereavement risk factors for poor adjustment after the death of a loved one along with preventive strategies that can be implemented prior to death as well as diagnostic procedures and therapeutic strategies that can be used to identify and treat individuals who develop complicated grief disorder after death.