A new study, published in PLOS One, explores bereaved individuals’ experiences and satisfaction with social support. The researchers’ findings indicate that animal, as opposed to human, supports can be the most satisfactory form of support. Pets More Effective for Grief Support than Humans, Study Finds « Mad in America
Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief? ~ William Blake
A reader writes: My best friend was only 38 when she died from kidney cancer two years ago, just three days before Christmas. While I still miss her terribly and cry sometimes when I think of her, I think I’m grieving OK. I live on the east coast and my friend's widower and twin daughters, now seven, live in the west. We were all friends long before they married, stationed together at the same US military base many years ago.
When compared with every other human group with whom grievers typically interact, animals provided significantly more support than family, friends, colleagues, therapists, social workers, medical staff, spiritual providers and more. Too often with humans, fear gets in the way of love. Animals simply just show up. Social work professor Joanne Cacciatore explores animals’ abilities to help those dealing with grief « ASU News
Given that the risk of a healthy child dying is between zero and infinitesimally rare, it's understandable that many parents are appropriately asking, why vaccinate healthy kids at all? Think Twice Before Giving the COVID Vax to Healthy Kids « MedPage Today
Those persons who have never experienced what I refer to as “crushing, gut-busting, overwhelming, debilitating grief” might legitimately ask: Does Grief Hurt? « Centering and Grief Digest Magazine
Loneliness and isolation are a giant cause of suffering for grieving people. Try these five tips on how to cope with the loneliness of grief. Five Ways to Manage Your Grief and Loneliness « Refuge In Grief
A core set of principles separate those who make good and bad policy decisions. Op-Ed: Will the Real COVID Experts Please Stand Up? « MedPage Today
[Reviewed and updated September 2, 2025]
I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time. ~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
A reader writes: I'm pretty sure there are a lot of topics about this but I wanted to ask if others have these really vivid dreams in which their lost loved one was still alive, but after waking up you realize she's not there anymore. How do you deal with that and when did the dreams go away? The dreams are strangely comforting but the feeling when you wake up is just devastating.
We may not travel to Washington D.C. this Memorial Day, but we can take time to pause and remember, to honor the fallen in our own individual and personal ways, and most especially to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the precious members of their families who mourn their losses each and every day. Memorial Day « Grief Healing
A reader writes: I am presently not doing as well as I did in the past, I think it is because I think about this time last year and I was still in my old house caring for my parents until they both died, and now I am in the new one, and I guess I am just missing the old one a little bit… I still miss mom and dad but I think a lot of it is because I am lonely and think of them as my family and now I feel I have no one. The reason I am writing to you is to ask if you could help me with a problem I have. I am scared to death to learn how to drive...
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