Grief attacks-sudden, unexpected and intense upsurges of loss-related anguish-are a common grief-specific phenomenon. However, no research has identified the range of symptomatology that characterizes this experience, nor is there a validated instrument to measure its intensity. Therefore, our objectives were to identify the components underlying grief attacks, develop a self-report measure of the phenomenon, and explore the circumstances in which they arise, their frequency and duration, and how persons who suffer them attempt to cope with their occurrence. A study of 247 bereaved adults revealed that a grief attack is composed of four dimensions (i.e., panic, yearning, disorganization, and despair). Based on these findings, we created the Grief Attack Questionnaire (GAQ), which demonstrated solid reliability and convergent validity. A GAQ total score of ≥ 35 was found to yield a strong sensitivity rate, but a modest specificity rate, in classifying persons with and without impairing levels of grief.
Lee et al. (2025) studied this question.