What’s the Deal With Prolonged Grief Disorder (and why should you care)?

PROLONGED GRIEF DISORDER! It’s everywhere - social media, The New York Times, The Washington Post… it’s the hot new medical condition everyone’s talking about. But why is everyone so mad about it? 

This week on the show, an overview of this hotly contested “new” human disorder, and what it means for the average person, for healthcare providers, and honestly - for the whole world. This is one medical diagnosis that affects everyone. 

 

In this episode we cover: 

 

• Why anyone should care what the APA thinks about grief
• The actual diagnostic criteria for prolonged grief disorder (translated from psych-jargon into the way real people speak)
• Access to care + funding for research: two of the main reasons people think this diagnosis could be helpful (and why it isn’t) 
• The real world impact of the DSM: doubling down on shame and misunderstanding
• One surprise reason this diagnosis *could* be seen as a good thing

 

We're re-releasing some of our favorite episodes from the first 3 seasons. This episode was originally recorded in 2022

 

Looking for a creative exploration of grief? Check out the best selling Writing Your Grief course here.

 

About Megan: 

Psychotherapist Megan Devine is one of today’s leading experts on grief, from life-altering losses to the everyday grief that we don’t call grief. Get the best-selling book on grief in over a decade, It’s Ok that You’re Not OK, wherever you get books. Find Megan @refugeingrief

 

Additional resources:

For an interview with both Megan and the author of the NYT article, Ellen Barry, on WGBH TV Boston, click here. 

 

To read Megan’s more detailed response to the NYT article, check out the original Twitter thread, and the extended thread. 

 

Want to talk with Megan directly? Join our patreon community for live monthly Q&A grief clinics: your questions, answered. Want to speak to her privately? Apply for a 1:1 grief consultation here. 

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You're Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed

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