Seeking Professional Help During Bereavement: What Recent Studies Have to Say

By Jacob S. Sawyer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology at Penn State Mont Alto Many wonder if they are grieving the “right” way. This can be especially true for those who believe in a linear, stage model of grief. The most well known example of this is likely the Kübler-Ross model, which begins with denial […]

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Grief and Suicide

by Rebecca Hensler [Content notes: The following entry involves discussion of suicidal ideation, suicide prevention, and a death by suicide, all in the context of grief. As always at Grief Beyond Belief, please keep comments free of religious or spiritual content.] The following is entirely the personal thoughts of the author, except where cited through […]

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Atheist Grief Research

By Jacob Sawyer, Ph.D. Most know the phrase that nothing can be certain except death and taxes. However, despite the universal experience of loss, death, and grief, relatively little is known about specific factors that influence one’s experience during bereavement, at least from a scientific lens. Research around death and dying (or thanatology, as it […]

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Training Professionals in Caring for Grieving Nonbelievers: A Report Back From the MNHPC Conference

By Rebecca Hensler, Founder of Grief Beyond Belief I started thinking about teaching professionals about how to provide appropriate support for grieving nonbelievers a long time ago. I can’t remember when I realized we need this; maybe it was when I discovered that the UC Berkeley Extension program in The Study of Grief and Loss […]

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What do you wish you had been told about grief?

Sarah Parmenter’s blog entry, “The Things Nobody Tells You About Grief,” is so damn full of good advice.  If you have recently experienced a loss and are at the beginning of your “grief journey,” this essay is for you.  There is so much that those of us who have lived through the first few years of […]

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