Oxytocin and Approach-avoid in Grief

Plain-language summary

This is a completed project which was initiated prior to January 18,2017 Background: Theoretical models of complicated grief (CG) suggest that maladaptive approach (e.g., perseverative proximity-seeking of the deceased) or avoidance (e.g., excessive avoidance of reminders) behaviors interfere with a person's ability to integrate the loss and recover from their loved one's death. Due in part to conflicting evidence, little mechanistic understanding of how these behaviors develop in grief exists. We sought to (1) identify behavioral differences between CG and non-CG groups based on implicit bias for grief-, deceased-, and social-related stimuli, and (2) test the role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in shaping approach/avoidance bias. Methods: Widowed older adults with and without CG completed an approach/avoidance task measuring implicit bias for personalized, non-specific, grief-related, and other stimuli. In a double-blinded, randomized, counterbalanced design, each participant attended both an intranasal oxytocin session and a placebo session. Aims were to (1) identify differential effects of CG and stimulus type on implicit approach/avoidance bias \[placebo session\], and (2) investigate interactive effects of CG, stimulus type, and oxytocin vs. placebo on approach/avoidance bias \[both sessions\].

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