Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy for Prolonged and Traumatic Grief Following Drug-Related Death

The loss of a loved one due to drug-related death may have emotional and sociocultural implications that influence meaning attribution to the loss, thereby complicating the grief process and increasing the risk of prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy for Prolonged and Traumatic Grief (BEPPTG) can be tailored to the needs of individuals facing complex meaning attribution following drug-related death bereavement. BEPPTG consists of information and motivation, grief-focused exposure, symbolic interactions, and meaning attribution and activation. A case description shows the application of BEPPTG for the treatment of PGD and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following drug-related death bereavement. Through cognitive, behavioural, and experiential techniques, BEPPTG enables the patient to deal with traumatic and ambiguous aspects of drug-related death and to involve the patient’s social, cultural, and spiritual context to support adaptive meaning attribution and to reshape the relationship with the deceased.