Contact: Richard P. Gulla
781-434-7101
rgulla@mms.org
Waltham, Mass. - July 24, 2013 - The loss of a loved one affects each of us deeply and moves us to mourning and bereavement following the death. After a period, most people gain acceptance of their loss and move forward with their lives. Some, however, are affected by complicated grief, a clinically significant and potentially debilitating condition.
The August edition of Physician Focus with the Massachusetts Medical Society will examine the topic of complicated grief, its causes, symptoms, risk factors, who is most affected, how it may affect overall health, and treatments for the condition. The discussion will also include the differences among complicated grief, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder; the roles of “avoidance” and “isolation” in extending complicated grief; the influence of religious and cultural traditions in dealing with grief; and how the diagnosis of complicated grief came to be.
Guest for the program is Naomi Simon, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist and Director of the Complicated Grief Program and Director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Hosting this edition is her colleague John Fromson, M.D., Associate Director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at MGH and also a board-certified psychiatrist.
Physician Focus is a noncommercial production of the Massachusetts Medical Society and Hopkinton (Mass.) Community Access Television, HCAM-TV. Now in its ninth year, the monthly half-hour program brings viewers health and medical information on timely topics from physicians and other healthcare experts. Distributed as a public service, the program reaches some 275 communities in Massachusetts each month through the courtesy of public access television stations. For details on the program, visit the home page at www.physicianfocus.org.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 24,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and NEJM Journal Watch alerts and publications covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country.
HCAM-TV was founded April 1, 2004 by the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Hopkinton as a nonprofit corporation to manage local access to cable broadcast facilities. For information on HCAM, visit http://www.hcam.tv
