A Mayo Clinic publication describes grief as "a strong, sometimes overwhelming emotion for people, regardless of whether their sadness stems from the loss of a loved one, or from a terminal diagnosis........(t)hey can't control the process (and) need to prepare for varying stages of grief".Why is grief such an intense feeling or emotion? Some recently available investigative tools may help us to understand.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) developed in the early 90's, measures changes in blood flow in the brain or spinal cord, and has come to dominate the brain mapping field. In a recently published experiment, (Biological Psychiatry, 66, 33, 2009), 20 recently bereaved subjects were tested with deceased related and control words. When tested with deceased related words, the subjects showed activity in the amygdala area, the insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the brain. Amygdala acticvity, particularly, predicted induced sadness intensity.
Why are these areas important? Because they are areas of the brain associated with fear conditioning. No wonder CS Lewis so accurately described grief as feeling like fear, back in 1961. This a preliminary study. So, when we learn what areas of the brain are involved, then we can begin to find out how to turn off, or lessen that response that induces such sadness
In the meantime, we just have to await the passage of time, and compassionate human contact for healing. Each grieving person takes his or her own time to heal. One must embrace one's grief, live in it, and not run away from it. Peace to all.
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