Know Someone Who Is Grieving? Here's The 1 Thing You Should Never Do, According To A Grief Expert.

pocketlight via Getty Images Grief is tricky. Those are just a few of the questions that we — Noah Michelson and Lindsay Holmes, the hosts of this episode of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast ― asked M. Katherine Shear, M.D., the Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and the founding director of the Center for Prolonged Grief at the Columbia School of Social Work, when she dropped by our studio. “We’re trying so hard to make it better, and the fact is, you can’t.” This impulse, which she said psychologists sometimes refer to as a “righting reflex,” can actually make things worse. and we don’t want people around us to feel uncomfortable, either.” Instead of trying to “make everything better,” Shear suggested we concentrate on showing the grieving person that we’re there for them. “It’s not going to last forever that doesn’t mean your whole relationship with them has changed, but right now, it’s more up to you to be that caregiving person.” Another thing Shear has found that many people who are grieving the death of a loved one would like their friends and family members to do is talk about the person who passed.