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  • The Grieving Brain

  • The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss
  • By: Mary-Frances O'Connor
  • Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
  • Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)
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The Grieving Brain

By: Mary-Frances O'Connor
Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
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Summary

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.

©2022 by O’Connor Productions, Inc. (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The Grieving Brain

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Useful information, but irritating narration

Very useful information which I will use in counselling work. However the narration is rather irritating. It sounds like book has been read by a robot. If Siri read a book, that’s what it would sound like. I only put up with it because of the valuable information.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great

brilliantly explored pushing into the latest understandings about grief and the meaning it has for us all

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • 31-01-24

unable to engage with this book

The mechanical voice makes this a terrible listen. I quit after 40 mins as I couldn't bear it anymore. Considering the topic, this needs a human to read it. the content may be good, but I couldn't engage with it. shame

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Helpful and compassionate

Wide ranging and comprehensive, compassionate and genuine. Also reliable and scientific, but presented so a layperson could understand.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very very helpful. Intelligent and positive

wether you have experienced loss or are just interested in the topic this is really a top read. Helpful, intelligent and kind in equal measure. We will all encounter loss of a loved one and grief. This book has helped me understand what is happening to me scientifically and provided a thoughful and properly investigated toolkit to navigate the new terrain.
I would encourage reading the book not listening to audible as the reading voice and tempo are the only subpar aspect of the book - if you listed to it i found it helpful to do so at 1.2x as for me it 'normalised' the reading voice and tempo.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very useful

book is excellent. had to speed up to 1.25x for narration to be more normal

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended

I wish I'd found this book early on after the death of my partner instead of having to wade through all the useless mush and twaddle that is sadly so prolific ( avoid anything that mentions the 5 stages of grief !). It put things very much in perspective and made my grief suddenly a lot easier to bear. Can't recommend it enough. I did speed it up as the readers voice was too dreary otherwise.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book - from a Grief Therapist

I have consumed pretty much every book available on grief and for the first time in a long time, I learned new information in this wonderfully presented book. I had to listen multiple times in several parts, to fully grasp what was being said.
At first I found the robotic reading very grating, but I soon got used to it and was able to listen beyond that to the material itself. Pity it wasn’t read by the author! Nonetheless, I do highly recommend this book which I am about to listen to again!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great books and lots of new learning

After loosing my grandmother who brought me up and was a mother to me I have ready many books on grief however this book made a lot of practical sense and easy to understand. I would highly recommend for those who want to understand their grief much better. All the best and hope you all find strength

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