Well, That Explains It

Excerpts from an article of interest in the Chicago Tribune, as if this is front page news, but it was: Scientists measure 5 stages of grief Most people's anguish eases after six months; others might need treatment, study finds By Ronald Kotulak Tribune science reporter Published February 21, 2007 When a loved one dies, people go through five stages of grieving, according to accepted wisdom: disbelief, yearning, anger, depression and acceptance. Now the first large-scale study to examine the five stages suggests that they are accurate, and that if a person has not moved through the negative stages in six months, he or she may need professional help dealing with the bereavement The study, published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, also found that, contrary to common belief, yearning or missing a loved one is a far more dominant emotion than depression--meaning mental health experts who treat the grief-stricken may need to refocus attention on feelings of loss. "It's important both for clinicians and the average layperson to understand that yearning and not sadness is what bereavement is really all about," said study author Holly Prigerson, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Center for Psycho-Oncology and Palliative Care Research. "It's about yearning, pining, longing and being angry and protesting that you can't have this person back," Prigerson said. Not everyone follows the exact same pattern of grieving, she said, but most do. SO glad to hear I am normal.