Psychology of Grief

 

Grief is the emotional response to significant loss, typically triggered by the death of a beloved person. It encompasses a range of experiences, including physiological distress, separation anxiety, confusion, yearning, obsessive thoughts about the past, and apprehension about the future⁶.

 

Neuropsychology

   - Pioneering psychologist Mary-Frances O’Connor conducted one of the first neuroimaging studies of grief. Her research revealed that a loved one's absence disrupts both our lives and our brain.

   - Our brains encode the bond with a loved one in specific regions, creating a belief in the everlasting nature of that bond. Even after their death, we may feel their presence or see them in our minds due to this attachment neurobiology¹.

Biopsychological Impact of Grief

   - Intense grief can have serious consequences, including disruption of the immune system, self-neglect, and suicidal thoughts.

    The US suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988

   - Some people experience prolonged grief, remaining immersed in their loss for years without healing¹.

Stages of Grief

Early work by Elizabeth Kubler Ross suggested stages of grief, but now we understand grief is not an orderly process of moving from one stage to another. Ross' findings about the experience of grief is still valuable --anger, bargaining, denial, acceptance. See note 6 below.

Widespread Changes

In an interview, psychological scientists offers insights into the long-lasting effects. Here's a quote (note 6).

It’s an event that happens and changes us profoundly. It changes our community, it changes our relationships. And, you know, the death of a close loved one is very much the same way. But in terms of what’s going on in the brain, the brain is a predictive organ. That’s why we carry it around. That’s why we devote so much glucose to us. It’s trying to tell us what’s going to happen next. And from the time we’re pretty little, we learn when mom leaves, she’s going to come back again. Right. And every day when you kiss your spouse before they leave for work, we assume we’re going to see them again. That attachment belief is very strongly encoded because we wouldn’t be able to function in the world if we didn’t believe we were going to see them again. So we know now more about the epigenetic changes that happen during bonding. The parts of the brain that are used to sort of harness dopamine and oxytocin to keep us coming back to our loved ones. Well, death, thankfully, is a very unusual situation. And so for the brain to wake up and not see that person lying there next to you in bed that you’ve woken up to day after day after day, it doesn’t make sense to assume that they’re gone forever.

Measuring Grief

Christian-Based Grief Recover Scale

Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief 2.0

References

(1) Grief - American Psychological Association (APA). https://www.apa.org/topics/grief/.

(2) Bereavement and Grief - Psychology - Oxford Bibliographies. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/abstract/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0011.xml.

(3) How the Brain Copes with Grief | Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-copes-with-grief/.

(4) Grief and Loss: Understanding the Process | Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychological-trauma-coping-and-resilience/202012/grief-and-loss-understanding-the-process.

(5) A Biopsychosocial Approach to Grief, Depression, and the Role of ... - MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/11/8/110.

(6) The Grieving Brain - Association for Psychological Science. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/2022-utc-the-grieving-brain.html.

(7) en.wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grief.

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.