Why do we grieve, and what happens when we do? For much of human history, answers to these questions have come primarily from writers and thinkers. While they’ve given us powerful language to describe how we feel, they’ve shed little light on the science behind our feelings.

Neuroscientists are changing that. Armed with innovative approaches for studying grief, coupled with modern technologies that capture it, researchers are learning what happens in our brains when we grieve. Their findings reveal not only why we grieve, but the important role learning plays throughout the grieving process.

Mary-Frances O’Connor, Director of the Grief, Loss, and Social Stress Lab, and professor at the University of Arizona, has been at the forefront of this research. In her book, The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss, we learn how she and her colleagues are creating a new paradigm for understanding grief and the grieving process.

A remarkable writer and storyteller, Mary-Frances has written a compelling book. In it, she corrects many of our misconceptions, while expanding what we know about an experience we all, ultimately, will have.

Episode Links

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

M. Katherine Shear and The Columbia Center for Prolonged Grief

George A. Bonnano and the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab

It's Time to Let the Five Stages of Grief Die

The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement

Changing Lives of Older Couples

Noam Schneck

Donald Robinaugh

The Power of Fun by Catherine Price

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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CM 208: Mary-Frances O’Connor on How We Learn from Love and Loss

Curious Minds at Work