Mary-Frances O'Connor, Ph.D. and M. Katherine Shear, MD: The Grieving Brain

Loss of a loved one is something everyone experiences, and for as long as humans have existed, we have struggled when a loved one dies. Poets and playwrights have written about the dark cloak of grief, the deep yearning, and devastating heartache of loss. But until now, we have had little scientific perspective on this universal experience. In The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss, Mary-Frances O’Connor, Ph.D. shares groundbreaking discoveries about what happens in our brain when we grieve, providing a new paradigm for understanding love, loss, and learning. Prof. O’Connor is a renowned grief expert, neuroscientist, and psychologist who has devoted decades to researching the effects of grief on the brain. She is Associate Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab, which investigates the effects of grief on the brain and the body.

In The Grieving Brain, Prof. O’Connor reveals a fascinating new window into one of the hallmark experiences of being human. She makes cutting-edge neuroscience accessible 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, and how to imagine a future that encompasses their absence. Significantly, Prof. O’Connor debunks Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD’s enduring idea of the “five stages of grief” and sets a new paradigm for understanding grief on a neurological level.

Prof. O’Connor will be in conversation with M. Katherine Shear, MD, Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry and the founding director of the Center for Prolonged Grief at Columbia University School of Social Work. Dr. Shear is a clinical researcher who first worked in anxiety and depression. For the past 25 years she has focused on understanding and treating people who experience persistent intense grief which is now an official diagnosis called Prolonged Grief Disorder in the DSM-5.