Applying an empty-chair monologue paradigm to examine unresolved grief

IN this study the Gestalt empty-chair technique was applied in a research c ontext to assess unresolved grief and its relation to later adjustment. Ber eaved individuals who experienced the death of a spouse on average 6 months ago participated in an empty-chair monologue task in which they were instr ucted to speak to their deceased spouse, imagining that they had one last o pportunity to do so. They completed a questionnaire at the end of their mon ologue speech assessing their affective experience during the monologue. It contained items associated with unresolved grief (e.g., anger, guilt, help lessness, nonacceptance). Near the time of the monologue session, bereaved participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (Beck and S teer 1987) and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) (Horowitz, Wilner, and Alvar ez 1979). At 14 months postloss, bereaved participants again were administe red the BDI and IES. As hypothesized, the extent of unresolved grief as ass essed by the monologue questionnaire at 6 months postloss was predictive of 14-month postloss symptoms, even when statistically controlling for 6-mont h postloss symptoms in hierarchical regression analyses.