Title: Grief Symptoms: How Grief Affects the Brain - Barbara Fane, LCSW, BCD
Headings: Grief Symptoms: How Grief Affects the Brain
Grief Symptoms: How Grief Affects the Brain
What is happening?
Grief may impact you or loved ones in the following ways:
Why is this happening?
Consider these areas of the brain and how scientists believe grief symptoms affect them:

Content: Why is this happening? Your brain is trying to recover. You are experiencing a deep biological response to your loss, just as you are experiencing physical, psychological, and emotional responses. Hormones and chemicals are released, internal reactions are disrupted, important bodily systems shift into emergency mode. And it all starts in the brain. Consider these areas of the brain and how scientists believe grief symptoms affect them: The parasympathetic nervous system: This section of your autonomic nervous system is in the brain stem and lower part of your spinal cord. In this system, which handles rest, breathing, and digestion, you may find that your breath becomes short or shallow, appetite disappears or increases dramatically, and sleep disturbance or insomnia become an issue. The prefrontal cortex/frontal lobe: