Cited by 355Grief, Bereavement, and Mental HealthDeath, Funerary Practices, and MourningDeath Anxiety and Social Exclusion

When avoiding unpleasant emotions might not be such a bad thing: verbal-autonomic response dissociation and midlife conjugal bereavement

Bonanno, George A., Keltner, Dacher, Holen, Are, Horowitz, Mardi J.·1995·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract

It has been widely assumed that emotional avoidance during bereavement leads to either prolonged grief, delayed grief, or delayed somatic symptoms. To test this view, as well as a contrasting adaptive hypothesis, emotional avoidance was measured 6 months after a conjugal loss as negative verbal-autonomic response dissociation (low self-rated negative emotion coupled with heightened cardiovascular activity) and compared with grief measured at 6 and 14 months. The negative dissociation score evidenced reliability and validity but did not evidence the assumed link to severe grief. Rather, consistent with the adaptive hypothesis, negative dissociation at 6 months was associated with minimal grief symptoms across 14 months. Negative dissociation scores were also linked to initially high levels of somatic symptoms, which dropped to a low level by 14 months. Possible explanations for the initial cost and long-term adaptive quality of emotional avoidance during bereavement, as well as implications and limitations of the findings, are discussed.

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Crossref · 10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.975

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  • A small-scale laboratory study with longitudinal follow-up suggested long-term adaptiveness of early emotional avoidance.

    “a small-scale laboratory study with a longitudinal follow-up suggested long-term adaptiveness of early emotional avoidance (Bonanno et al., 1995).”

    From Emotion Regulatory Strategies in Complicated Grief: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Bonanno et al., 1995

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Authors
Bonanno, G. A., Keltner, D., Holen, A., & Horowitz, M. J.
Affiliations
Catholic University of America (US)
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Published
1995-11
Volume
69
Issue
5
Pages
975-989
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
OpenAlex
W2138840478
Cited by
355
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 17
FWCI
7.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
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
emotional avoidance, bereavement, midlife, grief, somatic symptoms, cardiovascular reactivity, adaptive coping, prolonged grief disorder, delayed grief
MeSH terms
Adult, Bereavement, Emotions, Female, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Somatoform Disorders

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