| Course | MSW 533 Death, Dying, and Bereavement |
|---|---|
| Week | 6 |
| Paper type | Complicated grief case study |
| Length | About 520 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 533 Week 6
Complicated Grief Case Study of R., 58, Fourteen Months After an Adult Son's Overdose Death: Risk in the Circumstances, Presentation Written as Behavior, a Differential Weighing Prolonged Grief, Depression and Trauma, and What Would Change My Mind
Student Name
Chamberlain University
MSW 533: Death, Dying, and Bereavement
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Complicated Grief Case Study of R., 58, Fourteen Months After an Adult Son's Overdose Death: Risk in the Circumstances, Presentation Written as Behavior, a Differential Weighing Prolonged Grief, Depression and Trauma, and What Would Change My Mind
The Death and Its Circumstances
R., 58, a parent, lost an adult son, 29, to a fentanyl overdose fourteen months ago. R. found the body. There was no warning; the son had been in recovery for a year. The son lived with R. and helped pay the rent. A sudden, violent or stigmatized death, a death found by the bereaved person and a death that removes daily support all raise the risk of prolonged grief (Shear, 2015).
Presentation, Written as Behavior
R. keeps the son's room unchanged and sits there most evenings. R. has not returned to church, where the son was known. R. checks the son's phone daily for messages. R. sleeps five hours a night, wakes at 3 a.m., the time R. found him, and replays the scene. R. works but has stopped seeing friends. R. says, "I can't believe he's gone. I should have checked on him sooner."
These behaviors are recorded from R.'s account and from one home visit. R.'s sister confirmed the evenings in the son's room. No behavior is described with a judgment word such as stuck or obsessed.
The Differential
Prolonged grief disorder: in adults, symptoms present at least 12 months after the death, with longing for the person who died, or constant thoughts of that person, on most days, plus symptoms such as disbelief, avoidance of reminders or intense emotional pain, causing impairment (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). R.'s daily yearning, disbelief, guilt and withdrawal fit. A screening measure built on these criteria could be used to check (Prigerson et al., 2021).
Major depression: R. has poor sleep and withdrawal, but R.'s low mood is tied to the son rather than pervasive, and R. still enjoys a grandchild's visits. Depression is possible alongside grief and should be screened.
Post-traumatic stress: R. replays finding the body at 3 a.m. and avoids the bathroom where the son died. Trauma symptoms from the discovery are likely present.
What Is Still Arriving in the Mail
Letters from the son's car loan company, a collections notice for his medical bills and a court date about his estate keep arriving in his name. Each one reopens the loss and adds stress that is not grief.
What Would Change My Mind
If R.'s low mood extended to the grandchild's visits and work, depression would rise. If the 3 a.m. replays faded with treatment for trauma while the yearning stayed, prolonged grief would be confirmed as the main problem.
Next Step
Refer R. to a clinician trained in treatment for prolonged grief and trauma, and help R. route the estate mail to an attorney.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Prigerson, H. G., Boelen, P. A., Xu, J., Smith, K. V., & Maciejewski, P. K. (2021). Validation of the new DSM-5-TR criteria for prolonged grief disorder and the PG-13-Revised (PG-13-R) scale. World Psychiatry, 20(1), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20823
Shear, M. K. (2015). Complicated grief. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(2), 153-160. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMcp1315618
Reading the MSW 533 Week 6 instructions
The complicated grief case study reads as an assessment. Open with the death and the circumstances that raise the question: how it happened, how long ago, how much warning there was and what the person's life depended on that is now gone. Write the presentation as behaviors rather than adjectives. Make the differential the center: weigh prolonged grief against depression and post-traumatic stress, among others, using current criteria and specific behaviors. Note the practical aftermath still arriving, such as bills and legal mail, which adds stress beyond grief. Say what would change your mind. Close with a next step. A diagnosis may be proposed but need not be final.
How the MSW 533 Week 6 example is put together
The circumstances section describes a sudden overdose fourteen months ago, discovery by R., a year of recovery and lost rent help, citing Shear (2015) on risk factors. The presentation lists behaviors: an unchanged room, evenings spent there, daily phone checks, 3 a.m. waking and replays, missed church and withdrawn friends, and R.'s own words. The differential weighs prolonged grief against criteria in American Psychiatric Association (2022) and the scale in Prigerson et al. (2021), depression with preserved enjoyment of a grandchild and trauma from the discovery. A section lists the loan, medical and estate mail. Conditions that would change the assessment and a referral close the study.
Where the points sit in the MSW 533 Week 6 rubric
Faculty grade the differential most heavily. A case study that names complicated grief without weighing alternatives loses the most. Credit goes to risk placed in the circumstances of the death, presentation written as behaviors, current criteria applied accurately and alternatives weighed against specific evidence. The practical aftermath belongs in the assessment because it shapes the person's distress. Stating what would change the writer's mind shows openness. A next step should follow from the differential. Current criteria and screening research belong in the reference list in APA form. Cases where the death was recent should not be assessed against criteria that require more time. Behaviors described in the person's own routine, such as the 3 a.m. waking, carry more weight than adjectives.
Common MSW 533 Week 6 mistakes, and how to avoid them
The usual shortfall is a moving portrait of sorrow with no diagnosis ever weighed. Another common problem is applying prolonged grief criteria before twelve months have passed in an adult. Some studies ignore trauma from discovering the body, or treat depression and grief as the same. Others leave out the bills and legal mail that keep arriving. If your case is different, perhaps a widow two years after a long illness, keep the same order: circumstances, behaviors, differential, aftermath and what would change your mind. A study that works for your case will name the behavior that most separates grief from depression. Keep the differential to the two or three diagnoses the behaviors actually raise.
Get a MSW-533 Week 6 example written to your instructions
Send the case your section assigned, the framework it names, and the rubric if one was published. A finished study written to all three comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, free. If your section lets you bring a situation from work, send an account with the identifying material already taken out and the example will be built from what is left.
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MSW 533 Week 6 questions, answered
Does the study have to name a diagnosis?
Only if the assignment asks for one, and many do not. Where a framework is named, the expectation is that its criteria get applied item by item with evidence from the case, and that the writer says which criteria are not met. A paper reaching a formal label without walking the criteria loses more than one reaching no label at all.
How do I handle a case where the death was recent?
Say so and reason from it. Most frameworks set a minimum duration before a presentation can be considered prolonged, so a recent death usually rules the assessment out and the honest study reports that. Naming what would be watched, and at what point the question could reasonably be asked again, earns the marks a premature conclusion loses.
Is the practical aftermath really part of a clinical assessment?
In a social work course it is, and it is where these papers get their identity. A widow who cannot settle the estate because the will names a brother nobody has spoken to since the funeral has an unfinished situation, not only an unfinished feeling. Rubrics in this program reward writers who can see the difference.
Where can I find a free MSW 533 Week 6 sample paper?
A complete MSW 533 Week 6 complicated grief case study of a parent after an overdose death is available on this page, annotated where the differential is weighed.
What alternatives does the MSW 533 Week 6 sample weigh against prolonged grief?
Major depression, which is less likely because enjoyment of a grandchild remains, and post-traumatic stress from finding the son, which is likely present alongside grief.