Bereavement constitutes a shared environmental exposure that may result in distinct psychopathological outcomes, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). The objective of this research was to construct a transdiagnostic conceptual model for interpreting bereavement-related pathologies that integrates core psychopathological data. A structured conceptual synthesis of the literature was conducted, focusing on diagnostic, epidemiological, pathophysiological, clinical, and therapeutic findings related to PGD and associated disorders. Shared and disorder- specific mechanisms were identified and mapped across diagnostic categories in order to construct an integrative framework. The proposed model suggests that bereavement-related psychopathology can be conceptualized as a spectrum of partially overlapping syndromes organized around three principal domains: attachment dysregulation and separation distress (PGD), trauma- and threat- processing abnormalities (PTSD, acute stress disorder, adjustment disorder), and depressive-cognitive vulnerability (MDD). This framework provides a clinically relevant perspective on the relationship between grief-, trauma-, and depression-related disorders following loss. More research is needed to empirically validate this model, but at a theoretical level, it can serve as an orienting aid for mapping bereavement-related diagnoses and treatments.
