Yearning predicts subgenual anterior cingulate activity in bereaved individuals
Open accessAbstract
Complicated grief, or persistent complex bereavement disorder, is a condition that affects approximately 10% of bereaved individuals and is marked by intense longing and yearning for the deceased. Little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms contributing to this syndrome, but previous research suggests that reward pathways in the brain may play a role. Twenty-five older adults were categorized based on grief severity into one of three groups: complicated grief (CG), non-complicated grief (NCG) and non-bereaved married controls (NB). Neural activation was examined using fMRI while participants viewed a countdown on the screen (anticipation) followed by a photo of their (living or deceased) spouse. There was no significantly differential activation between the three groups for the spouse v. stranger photo contrast, nor for anticipation period v. spouse photo. Post-hoc analyses were conducted using self-reported yearning scores as a regressor across all bereaved participants, which revealed that greater symptoms of yearning predicted greater activation in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC). Given the small sample size, the results should be considered preliminary and in need of replication, but may suggest a more nuanced, transdiagnostic role of the sgACC. This region of the brain has been previously linked to depression and suggests that symptoms of yearning may present an opportune place to intervene to improve outcomes in CG.
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Affected brain areas in prolonged grief disorder include the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens and the insula.
“Affected areas include the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens and the insula 96-101 .”
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- Authors
- McConnell, M. H., Killgore, W. D. S., & O'Connor, M.-F.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- O'Connor, Mary-Frances
- Venue
- Heliyon
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e00852
- ISSN
- 2405-8440 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6197542
- OpenAlex
- W2898069320
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 0.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Heliyon (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Aging (K01-AG028404)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- complicated grief, prolonged grief disorder, longing, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, bereavement, reward processing, anticipation, older adults, transdiagnostic mechanisms, depression
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