We talked to dozens of people about their experience of grief. Here’s what we learned
10 months ago

We talked to dozens of people about their experience of grief. Here’s what we learned

ABC  

Have you ever felt a sudden pang of sadness? Grief is often imagined as a time-bound period in which one processes the pain of loss — that is, adjusts to absence and works toward "moving on". "Prolonged grief disorder" is the name given to "persistent difficulties associated with bereavement that exceeded expected social, cultural, or religious expectations". As bereaved daughter Barbara told us: "Grief is not in the little box, it doesn't even come close to a little box." In fact, grief often begins earlier, often in a clinical consultation where the words "terminal" or "nothing more we can do" are used.

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History of this topic

Coping with the unthinkable: Expert healing tips on managing sudden loss and grief
1 month ago

Coping with the unthinkable: Expert healing tips on managing sudden loss and grief

Hindustan Times  

Death is unpredictable and inevitable, especially for a life that got snuffed out too young, leaving unfulfilled dreams and aspirations, making it even more painful for friends and family. In an interview with HT, Dr Rajiv Mehta Vice-Chairperson of Psychiatry at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, explained grief management. Dr Mehta added, “The intensity of grief also depends on the manner …

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

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

Huff Post  

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 …

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

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

Huff Post  

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 …

Preparing for goodbye: How honest talks about death can ease the pain of loss
3 months, 4 weeks ago

Preparing for goodbye: How honest talks about death can ease the pain of loss

Hindustan Times  

Dr. Vanessa Rodriguez is no stranger to talking about death. Palliative care doctor Dr. Vanessa Rodriguez advocates for open discussions about death to ease family anxieties. Start an open and honest dialogue Thinking through details and resolving loose ends can help families cope when the inevitable happens: Where might their loved one like to be buried? “But there are so …

One Man’s Meticulous Quest to Cure Grief
3 months, 4 weeks ago

One Man’s Meticulous Quest to Cure Grief

Slate  

After Cody Delistraty’s mom died in his early 20s he decided to turn his grief into a research project with one central question: can grief be cured? Cody’s book is called The Grief Cure: Looking For the End of Loss Looking for more episodes on grief and longing? Here are some from our archive: When Grief Doesn’t Move In Stages …

She felt lost when she became a widow in her 20s. Then she signed up to grief camp
55 years ago

She felt lost when she became a widow in her 20s. Then she signed up to grief camp

CNN  

CNN — When Mackenzie Galloway-Cole saw the reminder in her Google calendar, her first reaction was dread: Three days, blocked out with two words, in all caps: “GRIEF CAMP.” Taking a few deep breaths, Galloway-Cole tried to calm her nerves. So, when I found out about the camp, I signed up the day I found out.” ‘A big leap of …

Grief is brutal, but there is value in it, experts say. So why do we try to "cure" it?
6 months, 1 week ago

Grief is brutal, but there is value in it, experts say. So why do we try to "cure" it?

Salon  

Cody Delistraty wanted to get good at grief. Though the loss of his mother and its aftermath “showed me how brutal pain is,” as Delistraty tells me during a recent video chat, it also showed him why grief can be something to “keep with us and to work through, as hard as it is.” Ultimately, it’s not something to be …

Want to ease the pain of loss? Create a grief ritual
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Want to ease the pain of loss? Create a grief ritual

LA Times  

When Cody Delistraty lost his mother in 2014, he was surprised by the various ways that he, his brother and his father dealt with their grief. Read the stories In 2022, a new addition to the DSM-5 caught Delistraty’s eye: prolonged grief disorder. Delistraty’s new book, “ The Grief Cure: Looking for the End of Loss,” follows his inquisitive sampling …

How I found support in my journey through grief
8 months ago

How I found support in my journey through grief

CNN  

Editor’s note: Runner and writer Emily Halnon’s new book, “To the Gorge: Running, Grief, and Resilience & 460 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail,” was released on May 7. Running in my mother’s honor I decided to run the 460-mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail that crosses Oregon —and to try and do it faster than any human before …

Coping with grief: Tips for navigating revival and loss of loved ones
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Coping with grief: Tips for navigating revival and loss of loved ones

Hindustan Times  

Loss often feels all consuming but we need to give room for feelings of sadness, confusion, anger as they show up. Coping with grief: Tips for navigating revival and loss of loved ones In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Mansi Poddar, Trauma Sensitive Psychotherapist, shared, “Anger can reveal itself as blame or frustration. Depression can become profound before bargaining, which …

I Lost My Baby. Then I Discovered What My Ex And His New Wife Planned To Name Their Son.
11 months, 2 weeks ago

I Lost My Baby. Then I Discovered What My Ex And His New Wife Planned To Name Their Son.

Huff Post  

"I’ve learned grief can never be left behind entirely — just held a little more lightly. And so it was that he became “Gabriel.” But, for me, there was something more to it: Gabriel was one of God’s angels, and my husband was named for another. “OK — you didn’t remember,” I said when I finally called him back an …

Grief & Holiday Season: Protecting Your Mental Health When You Lose a Loved One
1 year ago

Grief & Holiday Season: Protecting Your Mental Health When You Lose a Loved One

The Quint  

Grief is not the easiest to navigate, especially during the holidays, but there are certain things that we can do that can make the experience less difficult and more manageable. Look at the holidays as a time to unwind and maybe start that activity that you were thinking of doing for the longest time but could not due to your …

What does healing look like, in unruly and unpredictable grief?
1 year ago

What does healing look like, in unruly and unpredictable grief?

Hindustan Times  

So much has changed when it comes to how we grieve. “The one thing that stands out about Millennials and Gen Z is that they have learned to walk with grief, using whatever means they have,” says life coach Chetna Chakravarthy. “I just find it hard to say my feeling to people and so social media was easier because I …

Make room for grief at the workplace too
1 year, 1 month ago

Make room for grief at the workplace too

Live Mint  

I never got the chance to meet Chandrika Mago, senior Mint editor and head of the Lounge desk, who passed on last week. I couldn’t stop thinking about how the loss of a colleague, someone we work and spend so much of our time with, impacts us and how we need to make room for grief at our workplaces too. …

The mourning after: Our understanding of grief is changing
1 year, 1 month ago

The mourning after: Our understanding of grief is changing

Hindustan Times  

Sometimes, grief won’t fade. “For a substantial minority, about 1 in 10, the adaptation to loss doesn’t progress naturally,” says Natalia Skritskaya, an adjunct associate research scientist at the Center for Prolonged Grief at Columbia University. “All these processes take up a lot of bandwidth in the brain, so it’s not surprising that after a traumatic loss people also experience …

How the loss of a loved one tests a family’s fabric
1 year, 4 months ago

How the loss of a loved one tests a family’s fabric

Live Mint  

I lost my father-in-law to terminal cancer two years ago. This phase leads to a lot of misapprehensions, you all will have to be a lot more patient with each other.” After his death, and the circumstances that followed, I saw that losing someone, especially to a terminal illness, tests the whole fabric of the family. And so, after we …

"We are a grief illiterate society": A psychotherapist on how to navigate loss in an era of excess
1 year, 4 months ago

"We are a grief illiterate society": A psychotherapist on how to navigate loss in an era of excess

Salon  

Grief doesn't always arrive in predictable stages. As she writes in her new book "Moving On Doesn't Mean Letting Go: A Modern Guide to Navigating Loss," whether it's for a loved one, a relationship, or a job — grief is a complicated and deeply individual experience. Moffa and I talked about how to grieve for someone we had a complicated …

Why this poet sees grief as its own kind of spiritual practice
1 year, 5 months ago

Why this poet sees grief as its own kind of spiritual practice

NPR  

Why this poet sees grief as its own kind of spiritual practice Enlarge this image toggle caption Maddie McGarvey Maddie McGarvey If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 9-8-8, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. Abdurraqib: Yeah, Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody …

It’s common to dream about dead loved ones. How do these dreams help us through our grief?
1 year, 7 months ago

It’s common to dream about dead loved ones. How do these dreams help us through our grief?

LA Times  

This story was originally published in Group Therapy, a weekly newsletter answering questions sent by readers about what’s been weighing on their hearts and minds. I’m curious why I might be having these sorts of dreams now as opposed to right after she died, and how common it is to dream about lost loved ones more than the people you …

Grief Counselors Say 'Closure' Is A Myth. Here's Why.
1 year, 8 months ago

Grief Counselors Say 'Closure' Is A Myth. Here's Why.

Huff Post  

Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: Getty “I am a big believer that we don’t ‘get over’ the death of someone we love but rather we ‘get through,'" one rabbi said. “I am a big believer that we don’t ‘get over’ the death of someone we love but rather we ‘get through,’” Kaluzny told HuffPost. “We rush back to our busy lives thinking …

This Is What Grief Physically Feels Like
1 year, 9 months ago

This Is What Grief Physically Feels Like

Huff Post  

Angelica Alzona for HuffPost Grief can manifest physically in a variety of places. “Stress hormones may be released during the grief process, and these have an impact on our body.” People who suffer a misfortune — whether it’s the death of a loved one or some other loss — will feel grief in different ways, so its physical expressions can …

Scared to talk about death? Blame the Victorians
1 year, 10 months ago

Scared to talk about death? Blame the Victorians

The Independent  

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

‘Grief is alive, wild, untamed’: How to support a partner who’s lost a loved one
2 years, 2 months ago

‘Grief is alive, wild, untamed’: How to support a partner who’s lost a loved one

LA Times  

When someone we love dies, we want to know that our partner, family and friends will be there to witness our pain and support us, in ways both practical and intangible. Psychotherapist Megan Devine, who wrote “It’s OK That You’re Not OK” after losing her partner, Matt, said it’s important to meet the grieving person where they’re at. “The only …

A year since my sister’s suicide, here’s what I’ve learnt about grief – and life
2 years, 3 months ago

A year since my sister’s suicide, here’s what I’ve learnt about grief – and life

The Independent  

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy It’s one …

Grief Can Be Complicated: How to Cope with The Death of A Loved One
2 years, 4 months ago

Grief Can Be Complicated: How to Cope with The Death of A Loved One

News 18  

In May this year, three members of a family killed themselves as they lost a loved one to Covid. They can also develop psychiatric conditions like major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal behaviours, as well as a prolonged form of grief called complicated grief.” For people suffering from complicated grief, the mourning after the death of a dear person …

How To Process The Death Of Someone Who Negatively Affected Your Life
2 years, 5 months ago

How To Process The Death Of Someone Who Negatively Affected Your Life

Huff Post  

Ol'ga Efimova / EyeEm via Getty Images Therapists say it's OK to have minimal or absent grief, or even to feel relief when you lose someone who hurt you. I’ve tried to convince others to come and just be present, and they refused.” - Jennifer Kaluzny, a rabbi at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan “She felt ashamed to feel …

On grief
2 years, 8 months ago

On grief

The Hindu  

It sits with you like someone acutely aware of your most vulnerable self and asks you to probe that more deeply. For a very long time, my father’s death collapsed into everything else that was going wrong in life. If something bad happened in a day, the all-encompassing grief surrounding his death would attach to that little bad thing and …

Is grieving too long a disorder?
2 years, 9 months ago

Is grieving too long a disorder?

Salon  

What is the correct amount of grief? The newest update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders arrived earlier this month with an expected — if long debated over — addition: the identification of a condition known as "prolonged grief disorder." "The number one thing I hear when people come into my office for the first time is …

How your brain copes with grief, and why it takes time to heal
3 years ago

How your brain copes with grief, and why it takes time to heal

NPR  

How your brain copes with grief, and why it takes time to heal Enlarge this image toggle caption Adam Lister/Getty Images Adam Lister/Getty Images Holidays are never quite the same after someone we love dies. "What we see in science is, if you have a grief experience and you have support so that you have a little bit of time …

Why going to a grief retreat is what we all need after the pandemic
3 years, 1 month ago

Why going to a grief retreat is what we all need after the pandemic

The Independent  

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Animals are on hand to provide extra ‘therapy’ Its 16th-century farmhouse – up a curling country …

My Wife Of 51 Years Died. Here's What I Learned About Grief That I Never Knew Before.
3 years, 2 months ago

My Wife Of 51 Years Died. Here's What I Learned About Grief That I Never Knew Before.

Huff Post  

The author with his late wife, Brenda, on June 24, 2017, their 50th wedding anniversary. Websites that offer “help” for dealing with grief seem to have been put together by people who haven’t experienced a deep personal loss. “Make sure, Richard,” she’d said, “that you’re not just cross-piling sawdust or shoveling smoke.” Keeping busy for the sake of keeping busy …

Finding solace in sharing grief – as the Sue Ryder charity launches a new celebrity podcast
3 years, 2 months ago

Finding solace in sharing grief – as the Sue Ryder charity launches a new celebrity podcast

The Independent  

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

Five stages of grief
3 years, 3 months ago

Five stages of grief

CNN  

CNN — When someone you love dies, the world as you’ve known it is totally upended. This need for structure is probably one factor behind the popularity that latched onto the “five stages of grief” over 50 years ago and hasn’t yet let up, said David Kessler, who founded grief.com, a resource aiming to help people deal with uncharted territory …

Five stages of grief
3 years, 3 months ago

Five stages of grief

CNN  

CNN — When someone you love dies, the world as you’ve known it is totally upended. This need for structure is probably one factor behind the popularity that latched onto the “five stages of grief” over 50 years ago and hasn’t yet let up, said David Kessler, who founded grief.com, a resource aiming to help people deal with uncharted territory …

How to make room for other people’s grief: A pandemic-era guide
3 years, 6 months ago

How to make room for other people’s grief: A pandemic-era guide

Hindustan Times  

Talk to people who have lost someone, and one finds that the simplest things helped the most in the immediate aftermath. With the loss of life simultaneously so pervasive, it’s important to find appropriate new ways to address it, and to accommodate the grief it causes, in extended family, friends, neighbours, co-workers. As children we’re shielded from it, so we …

Will we ever get over the grief of the second wave?
3 years, 6 months ago

Will we ever get over the grief of the second wave?

India Today  

By March 31, a total of 1,62,468 people had lost their lives to Covid-19 in India, according to government data. “GETTING OVER” GRIEF Amrita Kajaria, a psychotherapist with a specialisation in grief, told IndiaToday.in, “There is no such thing as ‘getting over’ grief. Apart from the additional pain of not being able to see, touch and meet those we are …

How to grieve and heal during the pandemic
3 years, 7 months ago

How to grieve and heal during the pandemic

Live Mint  

All of April and May, most of the sessions I did with clients were around grief. In sessions, clients have shared similar struggles and asked me what they can really say to help their friends or family in a way that’s sensitive—they also ask what they should avoid saying. Since we are still in lockdown, I find it useful to …

I Never Met My Boyfriend In Person. When He Suddenly Died, I Had No Idea What To Do.
3 years, 7 months ago

I Never Met My Boyfriend In Person. When He Suddenly Died, I Had No Idea What To Do.

Huff Post  

A selfie the author took while video chatting with Gabe in October 2018. Courtesy of Meghan Schiereck When Gabriel, my boyfriend of nearly three years died, the first thing I did was Google “What do you do when your boyfriend dies?” I couldn’t find the answer I was looking for, so I went to the county library, and through boogers …

Finding a new way to mourn
3 years, 7 months ago

Finding a new way to mourn

Live Mint  

There were whispers that Raju Mondal had lost his mind the night his wife died. “I just want her to know how sorry I am I couldn’t do more.” With a resurgent covid-19 upending our understanding of how to mourn and handle death, people are finding individualised ways to grieve. “A lot of them are distraught because they feel the …

How do we deal with our collective grief?
3 years, 7 months ago

How do we deal with our collective grief?

Live Mint  

There are days when Nitya Wallia does not want to get out of bed. “It may be a long while before people find meaning given the scale of the loss they have been subjected to on a collective level,” he says. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.” Making space for grief Srini Swaminathan, …

Why you should address vicarious grief
3 years, 7 months ago

Why you should address vicarious grief

Live Mint  

A 21-year-old client tells me: “2021 began with so much hope and now it feels like we are in the midst of a calamity. I have never lost a loved one in my life to death, yet all of last month it felt like grief.” For 17 years I have worked around grief, trauma and relationships but this time it …

How People Of Color Can Experience Grief Differently Than White People
3 years, 8 months ago

How People Of Color Can Experience Grief Differently Than White People

Huff Post  

Rowan Jordan via Getty Images My work in the world is dedicated to helping people access grief resources. When Black people can’t even find a sense of security in the warmth of their own beds, something immeasurable has been lost.” “We grieve for the community, for the family, which includes the countless lives that were touched by the individual who …

6 ways to help you cope after the death of a long-term partner
3 years, 9 months ago

6 ways to help you cope after the death of a long-term partner

The Independent  

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about …

In search of closure after a loved one’s death
3 years, 9 months ago

In search of closure after a loved one’s death

Live Mint  

Today I laid to rest a few bananas and one decomposing plum, flesh now pungent with death. When you resist the idea of heaven and hell, when you reject prayer and believe we’re all destined to be worm food, the idea of a ritual of burning, burying, public emotional displays and theatrics seems almost trite. In my mind, I’m right …

Grief is the thing with guitars: How indie music is tackling death in the age of Covid
3 years, 9 months ago

Grief is the thing with guitars: How indie music is tackling death in the age of Covid

The Independent  

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Even look at the popularity of It’s a Sin.” …

How To Process Grief Caused By COVID-19 (Even If You Didn't Lose Someone)
3 years, 10 months ago

How To Process Grief Caused By COVID-19 (Even If You Didn't Lose Someone)

Huff Post  

Alexandra Bowman for HuffPost Bent Not Broken is a look back on the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has disrupted our mental health, plus advice on how to manage our well-being moving forward. “Grief is a reaction to loss and not all loss is about death,” said Marianne Trent, a clinical psychologist and author of “The …

UK's 'tsunami' of grief as coronavirus deaths pass 100,000
3 years, 11 months ago

UK's 'tsunami' of grief as coronavirus deaths pass 100,000

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “There’s going to be a tsunami of grief and …

UK’s ‘tsunami’ of grief as coronavirus deaths pass 100,000
3 years, 11 months ago

UK’s ‘tsunami’ of grief as coronavirus deaths pass 100,000

Associated Press  

LONDON — For nine months, Gordon Bonner has been in the “hinterlands of despair and desolation” after losing his wife of 63 years to the coronavirus pandemic that has now taken the lives of more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. “There’s going to be a tsunami of grief and mental health issues this year, next year, ongoing, due …

Coping mechanisms: The pandemic guide to grieving
4 years ago

Coping mechanisms: The pandemic guide to grieving

Hindustan Times  

A person’s response to life in a pandemic can mirror the five stages of grief, with varying results, depending on how they deal with each emotion as it unfurls. Anger and anxiety have sort of overlapped with the other emotions, because the sources of anxiety are so varied, changeable and, in many ways, seem here to stay at least for …

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