Grief and Bereavement Articles and Grief Research 

Parents pass genes along to their offspring which equip them for their future life. In recent years, research has shown that the reality is much more complex and that parents endow much more than just genes. A new study reveals that active epigenetic modifications are also passed from one generation to the next. Human mothers grow babies in their bellies for nine months, and then after giving birth proceed to spend years raising and nurturing their children, teaching them how to perform both basic and advanced survival tasks. Fruit flies, on the other hand, lay eggs that are left to develop on their own.

A new survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health during the COVID-19 pandemic found a more-than-threefold increase in the percentage of U.S. adults who reported symptoms of psychological distress -- from 3.9 percent in 2018 to 13.6 percent in April 2020. The percentage of adults ages 18-29 in the U.S. who reported psychological distress increased from 3.7 percent in 2018 to 24 percent in 2020. The survey, fielded online April 7 to April 13, found that 19.3 percent of adults with annual household incomes less than $35,000 reported psychological distress

Unfortunately, grief is an inevitable, inescapable part of life. We will all lose someone we love at some point in our life—most of us at many points —and the loss can often hit us harder than we expect. If we feel really knocked off our feet or are struggling for a prolonged period of time, that may be a sign that we need some professional help to move on. In this piece, we’ll cover the basics of grief counseling/grief therapy and provide suggestions, tips, techniques, and exercises you can implement as a person in grieving, part of the support system for a person who is grieving, or as a mental health professional.

Details of the role of glutamate, the brain's excitatory chemical, in a drug reward pathway have been identified for the first time. This discovery in rodents shows that stimulation of glutamate neurons in a specific brain region leads to activation of dopamine-containing neurons in the brain's reward circuit. Details of the role of glutamate, the brain's excitatory chemical, in a drug reward pathway have been identified for the first time.

Motions of grief are always there, and they can be activated by our own directed thought or by unconscious reactions to stimuli that I call ‘sense triggers’. Every one of our six senses can trigger thoughts of our children. To others I may appear normal and even be engaged in intent conversation, driving, walking, at work, at play, in line at the movies. I will carry on my normal routine day as best I can the rest of my life. I do my job and pay the bills. But underneath that ‘normal routine’ there are still receptors for hundreds of triggers

Happiness is more than just a feeling; it is something we can all practise on a daily basis. But people are better at some 'happy habits' than others. In fact, the one habit that corresponds most closely with us being satisfied with our lives overall -- self-acceptance -- is often the one we practise least. 5,000 people surveyed by the charity Action for Happiness, in collaboration with Do Something Different, rated themselves between 1 and 10 on ten habits identified from the latest scientific research as being key to happiness.

Two new studies from MIT suggest that mindfulness -- the practice of focusing one's awareness on the present moment -- can enhance academic performance and mental health in middle schoolers. The researchers found that more mindfulness correlates with better academic performance, fewer suspensions from school, and less stress. "By definition, mindfulness is the ability to focus attention on the present moment, as opposed to being distracted by external things or internal thoughts.

People who narrowly avoid disaster do not necessarily escape tragedy unharmed, and their knowledge of the victims' fate shapes how survivors respond to traumatic events, according to the results of a new paper by a University at Buffalo psychologist that explores the effects of near-miss experiences associated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In those split seconds when people witness others in distress, neural pathways in the brain support the drive to help through facets of imagination that allow people to see the episode as it unfolds and envision how to aid those in need, according to a team of Boston College researchers. The underlying process at work is referred to as episodic simulation, essentially the ability of individuals to re-organize memories from the past

Losing a parent feels insurmountable at any age. Our series helps you face it ― from the practical logistics to the existential questions about death and dying today. No matter how old you are, the death of a family member can bring up a range of difficult and often overwhelming emotions: shock, deep sadness, confusion, anxiousness and anger, just to name a few. For bereaved children dealing with the loss of an important figure like a parent, these intense feelings can be particularly hard to process.

A good friend of mine lost her dad some years back. I found her sitting alone on a bench outside our workplace, not moving, just staring at the horizon. She was absolutely distraught and I didn’t know what to say to her. It’s so easy to say the wrong thing to someone who is grieving and vulnerable. So, I started talking about how I grew up without a father. I told her that my dad had drowned in a submarine when I was only 9 months old and I’d always mourned his loss, even though I’d never known him. I just wanted her to realize that she wasn’t alone, that I’d been through something similar and could understand how she felt.

My question is about anticipatory grief, the distress that family members can feel when a loved one is receiving end-of-life care. I work in a palliative care unit of a large hospital, and we often have families who are overwhelmed with the reality of the patient’s impending death, to a point that they can’t take in the message that further treatment is medically futile–no amount of heroic interventions can restore the person to health, but only prolong the patient’s suffering. Almost always we can control the patient’s pain,