Unfinished business and self-blaming emotions among those bereaved by a COVID-19 death

Death Stud. 2022;46(6):1297-1306. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2022.2067640. Epub 2022 May 2.

Abstract

In view of the mounting death toll of COVID-19 worldwide and the complicating circumstances that commonly accompany such losses, we studied the grief experiences of 209 adult mourners who lost a loved one to coronavirus with a focus on self-blaming emotions and unresolved issues with the deceased. We found universal endorsement of one or more forms of self-blame (guilt, regret, shame) or unfinished business (UB), with over one-third of mourners endorsing all four experiences. Those having a closer relationship to the deceased reported both greater distress over UB and more intense and dysfunctional grief symptomatology. Strikingly, unresolved conflict, a major dimension of UB, accounted for nearly 40% of the unique variance in problematic grief, which bore no relation to time since the loss.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bereavement*
  • COVID-19*
  • Emotions
  • Grief
  • Guilt
  • Humans
  • Shame