Online grief support offers a flexible, anonymous, and accessible form of support in times of deep emotional need.
A novel meta-analysis published in BMC Palliative Care suggested that healing from loss may just be a click away—at least for many of the psychological wounds grief leaves behind. Web-based grief interventions showed strong promise in helping bereaved individuals cope with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and grief —both immediately and three months after the intervention.
Danyang Yao and colleagues reviewed data from nearly 1,500 participants across multiple randomized controlled trials sourced from major medical databases. The study analyzed data from 726 people in the intervention/treatment group and 771 in the control group. After the web-based grief therapy, participants showed notable improvements across multiple mental health symptoms (Table 1), all with statistically significant results.
Three months later, improvements in grief, depression, and PTSD remained, but anxiety showed no lasting effect. The findings revealed that individuals coping with loss in online grief therapy experienced improved mental health symptoms shortly after the therapy. Specifically, there were moderate decreases in anxiety, PTSD, depression, and grief.
BMC Palliative Care
The effectiveness of web-based grief intervention for adults who lost a loved one: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Danyang Yao et al.
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