The Journey Ahead

Analysis of 61 research studies shows that the higher the level of bereavement-related distress, the greater the benefit mourners will receive from bereavement therapy.

I often hear of people giving bereaved people advice similar to “you just need some time, after all ‘time heals all wounds.’” Time does NOT heal all wounds. A more apt saying is “IT’S WHAT YOU DO WITH THE TIME THAT HEALS.” Like any other aspect of life, mourning is an active, working process, not a passive one.

We need to quit trying to distill the interpersonal and intrapersonal complexities of mourning into a simplistic set of dogmatic grieving stages. Rather, we should use newer, more descriptive models that better describe the process.

Some medical researchers are beginning to sound like they have found the "Fountain of Youth" and soon we will live to be 150 years old. Why?