Broken Hearts

Exploring myths and truths about grief, loss, and recovery.

Russell Friedman is Executive Director of The Grief Recovery Institute, and co-author of The Grief Recovery Handbook, When Children Grieve, and Moving On. See full bio

Broken Hearts

January 13, 2010

Why do good things happen to bad people? And How Not To Be a Bicycle.

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Look carefully. Read More

January 5, 2010

Studies Prove Need for Immediate Attention to Grief—And to Label it Correctly

Identify A Problem Then Solve It—Right?

• If we identified the cause of a doubling of heart attack rates for males and trebling for females, as a society, we'd mobilize all our resources to deal with that, wouldn't we?

• If we became aware of a direct link to a suicide rate 242% higher than the norm, we'd rev up our collective engines to find a solution, wouldn't we? Read More

December 4, 2009

Tiger Uses STERBs—Do You? aka What Tiger Woods and an 85 year-old widow have in common.

Tiger Uses STERBs—Do You?

What, you don't know what a STERB is?

Shame on you! Read More

November 16, 2009

Uh-0h, It's That Time Again!

Many grievers wish they could jump from late October to mid-January and skip the Holidays

The holidays are approaching. A joyous time. A festive time. Read More

October 28, 2009

Why Won’t Anyone Let Me Feel Sad?

If we were forced to quantify the problems grieving people encounter, there's no doubt the number one offense they must confront is being told that they shouldn't feel sad or bad.

The tragedy is that they are told this precisely when it makes the most sense for them to feel sad or bad—when someone important to them has died. Read More

October 13, 2009

Pathological-Or Logical Pathways?

What Comes First, The Chicken or the Neurotransmitter—And Do Grievers Really Care?

That question begs another question as to whether or not the depth and intensity of a painful reaction to a new loss is pathological. In the main, we think not. Read More

September 21, 2009

No Stages of Grief

Sez who? Sez us - the folks who've been in the trenches with grieving people for more than 30 years.

In the fall of 2008, Skeptic magazine - Vol. 14, Number 2, 2008 - published The Myth of the Stages of Dying, Death, and Grief - a major article we wrote refuting the alleged stages of grief. Read More

September 18, 2009

Tune In Monday, 9/21, for a Full Frontal Assault on Stages of Grief

There was an excellent piece on the general topic of "stage theories" today, called Stages of Grief - Time For a New Model, by our PT blogging colleague, Worth Kilcrease.

We want to alert you to a piece on the same topic that we'll post on Monday, September 21 Read More

September 16, 2009

Potty Mouth Pandemic-No Vaccine In Sight

The last week has showered us with behavior and language that would have made our grandmothers blush—and rush to the soap to do some serious remedial training of their potty-mouthed kin.

SC Congressman Joe Wilson, tennis star Serena Williams, rapper Kanye West, and even ye olde Presidente Obama himself have lit up the airwaves with their untoward public and semi-public utterances. Read More

September 14, 2009

Legacy of Love, or Monument to Misery

When long term relationships end due to the death of one of the partners, there's an inevitable adjustment to the new reality of life without that person who has always been there. Read More