Seeing grieving as learning explains why the process takes time | Psyche Ideas

Standard features of human memory and learning can help explain the disorientation that follows the death of a loved one

When a loved one dies, many of us fall very suddenly into a disorienting new reality, stripped of markers and routines that we once relied on to navigate our days. No longer moving seamlessly with the other person to brush our teeth after the evening news; no longer texting each other between work meetings. Just as puzzling, though, is the way in which, over time, the feeling of profound destabilisation slowly transforms. The other person’s absence stays with us forever, but we can find new ways of being in the world even as we continue to carry our grief. To understand how this process…

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