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Themes: Grief, Loss, Bereavement, Pain, Mental Health
Summary:
Join me for a thoughtful conversation with Megan Devine: best-selling author, psychotherapist, and grief advocate. With over 20 years in the field - and deep personal experience of grief - she is the go-to authority for grievers, supporters, and industry professionals. Her pioneering work provides a professional, inclusive, and realistic approach to grief, one that goes beyond pathology-based, reductive models. If you’re currently feeling the deep pain of loss or are looking for ways to support someone who is, this episode is for you.
Megan’s book It’s OK that You’re Not OK has sold over 250K copies and is available in 16 languages. New York magazine’s The Strategist named the book in their “Top 16 Grief Books Recommended by Psychologists in 2021.” Her animated short, “How to Help a Grieving Friend,” has been viewed over 70 million times and is used in training programs worldwide. She’s been published in Psychology Today, The New York Times, and The Washington Post and has served as a grief expert for major media outlets, including NPR, iHeartRadio, and the PBS documentary, Speaking Grief.
Discover:
00:00 Intro
01:20 Megan’s story
07:09 How society responds to grief
09:11 You don’t need to find the silver lining
13:03 Movies modeling the happy ending
15:17 The fallacy of suffering as punishment
20:25 The “nobility” of suffering
24:33 The history of dealing with pain
31:21 How medicine handles grief
36:43 Timeline of grief
38:16 Why do we avoid sadness?
43:54 How to actually support someone who’s grieving
47:46 Expanding your idea of what grief is
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