Episode 83: The Science of Grief

Jala Prendes — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 04:00:00 -0500

Jala is joined by Desirée to discuss the science behind grief: how it registers in our brains and bodies, its potential long-term effects and how we process it. They also discuss the books The Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body, both by Mary-Frances O’Connor.

This episode is primarily a book report of: The Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body by Mary-Frances O’Connor

Mentioned during the episode:

Death in the Afternoon - The Order of the Good Death's podcast. One of the seasons discusses situations of complicated or prolonged grief, where disbelief belies all reality. These are some truly surreal stories.

Related episodes:

Episode 27: Death Positivity - discussion of the death positive movement, The Order of the Good Death, and that one time Cameron faceplanted directly into the chest cavity of an embalmed corpse.
Episode 73: Trauma Response - discussion of types of trauma, methods of coping and more. Also discussion of the book The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.

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Jala Prendes
Bluesky - @jalachan, Bluesky - @fireheartmedia
The Level

Desirée Neyens
Bluesky
Instagram Special Guest: Desirée Neyens.

Jala-chan's Place - Episodes Tagged with “Grief”

Episode 83: The Science of Grief