Can Bereaved Pet Owners Suffer Prolonged Grief Disorder?

Prolonged grief disorder has recently been added as a new diagnostic category to the American Psychology Association\u27s manual of mental illnesses, usually referred to as the DSM. However, the diagnosis refers to grief at the loss of a person. It excludes grief at the loss of a companion animals and yet there is evidence that people who lose a cherished pet may also experience prolonged grief disorder. Given that over 70 million US households include pets, if even a small percentage of people in those households experience prolonged grief disorder at the death of a pet, then the category would cover several hundred thousand people a year