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

Written 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. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9780062946263

Mary-Frances O'Connor

Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, is a 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. Her book The Grieving Brain was included on Oprah’s list of Best Books to Comfort a Grieving Friend. O’Connor holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in psychoneuroimmunology at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Having grown up in Montana, she now lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Reviews for The Grieving Brain

[Stephanie Harber · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed that. Opened my eyes to a lot of stuff. This is the first book on grief I have listened to so I’ve nothing to compare it to. But thoroughly enjoyed it

[nmele_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dr. O'Connor is not a therapist but a researcher who uses the full range of tools to explore grief, from CT sans and fMRIs to interviews and surveys. The result is an enlightening exploration of grief and how to process and live with it.

[ade M · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very helpful. Insightful, practical and great as an audiobook if one is struggling to concentrate on reading during grief. Offers empathy and hope.

[Tristan Goodall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book. It explained so much of what I was feeling on the passing of my partner and helped me to explain it to others. The almost robotic audio was a bit distracting but the book was worth persevering.

[Daryl Wilkins · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up hoping to gain understanding of my mother who is having increasing trouble with her daily tasks having lost 3 siblings within a short period, all younger than she. I hoped to understand how grieving may be accelerating the deterioration of her brain and her ability to accomplish her activities of daily living. To me though, this read like a peer reviewed research project which, although interesting had very little practical advice.