Background and objectives: People often disappear in the context of displacement or armed conflicts. Although such an ambiguous loss is accompanied by persistent uncertainty about the whereabouts, the psychological consequences are not well understood. This study investigated the effects of ambiguous compared to a confirmed loss on prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and its correlates in refugees to Germany.
Methods and design: We investigated data on mental health outcomes of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan who had applied for/were granted asylum in Germany. In a secondary analysis, we compared 87 refugees with disappeared (n = 33) and deceased relatives (n = 54) who had completed questionnaire-based interviews.
Results: Participants with ambiguous loss displayed more severe symptoms of PGD than those with confirmed loss. However, we found no group differences in terms of probable disorder rates and the number of traumatic experiences. Even after controlling for several correlates of PGD, higher PGD symptom severity was associated with ambiguous loss, more PTSD symptoms and low perceived social support.
Conclusions: These results show a higher prolonged grief symptom severity after the loss of a significant other due to disappearance, indicating that this type of loss could be a specific risk factor for PGD severity.
Keywords: Prolonged grief; bereavement; disappearance; missing persons; refugees.