The National Archive of Grief Support Studies
The National Archive of Grief Support Studies(NAGSS) database provides bibliographical information and summaries of recent articles selected for their relevance to grief and bereavement service providers. The articles that are summarized are selected from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals and are intended to highlight key concepts as well as provide a brief statement of implications for service providers. Bibliographical information may be used to obtain the original article.
Functional Neuroanatomy of Grief: An fMRI Study
Authors:
Gundel, Harald
O'Connor, Mary-Frances
Littrell, Lindsay
Fort, Carolyn
Lane, Richard D.
Source:
American Journal of Psychiatry: November 2003, 160(1), pp. 1946-1953.
Summary
This article summarizes the results of a study that used functional neuroimaging to identify the areas of the brain that were activated by grief. Eight bereaved women participated in the study. Researchers exposed the women to 4 different conditions: pictures of their deceased loved one paired with grief words, pictures of their deceased loved one paired with neutral words, pictures of a stranger paired with grief words, and pictures of a stranger paired with neutral words. The results showed that participants’ brains reacted strongly to pictures of the deceased as well as to grief words. Different parts of the brain were activated by the different combinations of words and pictures; areas of the brain associated with cognition, affect processing, memory, and autonomic regulation were all activated to varying degrees. The authors conclude that grief is mediated by a complex network of different neural structures, and note that this insight helps explain the unique quality of the grief experience for different individuals.
Key Words: neuroanatomy, neuroimaging, physiological
Service Provider Implications
Service providers may benefit from knowing that neuroimaging has confirmed that grief activates many different areas of the brain. The evidence of activation of different regions of the brain contributes to the understanding of the physiological nature and the uniqueness of grief.
