The Grieving Brain

The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

By: Mary-Frances O'Connor

Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu

NPR SciFri Book Club Pick

Next Big Idea Club's ""Top 21 Psychology Books of 2022""

Behavioral Scientist Notable Books of 2022

A renowned grief expert and neuroscientist shares groundbreaking discoveries about what happens in our brain when we grieve, providing a new paradigm for understanding love, loss, and learning.

In The Grieving Brain, neuroscientist and psychologist Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, gives us a fascinating new window into one of the hallmark experiences of being human. O’Connor has devoted decades to researching the effects of grief on the brain, and in this book, she makes cutting-edge neuroscience accessible through her contagious enthusiasm, and guides us through how we encode love and grief. With love, our neurons help us form attachments to others; but, with loss, our brain must come to terms with where our loved ones went, or how to imagine a future without them.

The Grieving Brain addresses:

• Why it’s so hard to understand that a loved one has died and is gone forever
• Why grief causes so many emotions—sadness, anger, blame, guilt, and yearning
• Why grieving takes so long
• The distinction between grief and prolonged grief
• Why we ruminate so much after we lose a loved one
• How we go about restoring a meaningful life while grieving

Based on O’Connor’s own trailblazing neuroimaging work, research in the field, and her real-life stories, The Grieving Brain combines storytelling, accessible science, and practical knowledge that will help us better understand what happens when we grieve and how to navigate loss with more ease and grace.

pragmatic and illuminating

Author casts an excellent performer. Data heavy but experientially related. Which is to say this book brings people info focus, with interesting hope-filled guidance. Thank you.

Grieving is a personal experience, not 6 stages

Some unnecessary details.
Would have liked a summary at the end with recommendations for abnormal grieving and normal or acceptance .
Enjoyed discussion of stages we all have used, agree is not observed in everyone
How older adults with positive personalities adjust to loss, should be studied.

Complexities of Grieving Brains

As a bereaved mom and recent widowed nurse, I rather enjoyed the scientific research behind what I had been feeling with the sudden loss of our firstborn. And then now, with the recent loss of my husband, I can see the difference of why my son’s loss was so difficult for the whole family & I versus my hubby’s death from a 10.5 month battle with an aggressive brain cancer. Wow! What great information and how I can see how invaluable a wonderful grief therapist really is. Thank you, Mary-Frances O’Conner for scientifically proving I wasn’t “going crazy”!

Helpful

Grieving is not the same for all and this helped me understand that. Feeling thankful!

So very insightful

I recommend this book to anyone who is faced with grieving. It really makes you think of your life differently!!!