Cognitive functioning in complicated grief

Complicated grief (CG) is increasingly recognized as a debilitating outcome of bereavement. Given the intensity of the stressor, its chronicity, and its association with depression, it is important to know the impact CG may have on cognitive functioning. This exploratory and descriptive study examined global and domain-specific cognitive functioning in a help-seeking sample of individuals with CG (n = 335) compared to a separately ascertained control sample (n = 250). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Controlling for age, sex and education effects, CG participants had lower total MoCA, visuospatial and attention scores relative to control participants. The two groups did not differ significantly in the domains of executive function, language, memory or orientation. Age, sex, and education accounted for much of the variance in MoCA scores, while CG severity and chronicity accounted for a very small percentage of MoCA score variance. Major depression was not a significant predictor of MoCA scores. This study is consistent with previous work demonstrating lower attention and global cognitive performance in individuals with CG compared to control participants. This study newly identifies the visuospatial domain as a target for future studies investigating cognitive functioning in CG.