Continuing Education for Psychologists

The Grieving Brain
The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

Mary-Frances O'Connor examines the ways the brain processes not only grief as an emotional response, but the experience of grieving over the lifespan. O'Connor looks at personal experience, evolution, clinical work, and scientific research to explore the human experience of grief and especially complicated grief. She describes that our "problem-solving" and "predicting" brain has a virtual "map" of memories of loved with the "here, now, and close" aspects of these relationships and triggers our grief response over and over as these neural pathways get reactivated without the individual. O'Connor debunks traditional conceptualizations of the grief process and offers alternative approaches to coping with loss with both loss-oriented as well as restoration-oriented coping. This highlights the importance of accepting the loss; making room for feelings of grief instead of actively avoiding the feelings; increasing flexibility in how we respond; being mindful of our experience with these responses; and taking steps to create a meaningful life around what matters to us. O'Connor describes the richness and depth in the way we and our brains process grief and shows the possibility of creating a meaningful life following loss.

Mary-Frances O'Connor, PhD is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab, investigating the effects of grief on the brain and the body.

"The Grieving Brain is a probing exploration into the science of grief and grieving. We are given an opportunity to view loss in a new way. If you have felt the pain of a loss and wondered if it will ever get better, O'Connor shows how the brain can help heal."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Change

"A pioneer of the neuroscience of grief, O'Connor lays out in simple prose how we try to make sense of the impossible conundrum of loss. Anyone who's been through a loss or just wants to know how bereavement works, this is the book for you."
--George Bonanno, author of The End of Trauma