Mary Joan Gerson, Ph.D, ABPP

12/15/2023

Announcement: a recent opinion piece in the New York Times prompted me to write a blog called "The Fingerprint of Grief" in which I compare individual and collective mourning, defend Freud’s theoretical position, and fault our national culture for leaving us adrift in the Covid crisis.

The varieties of grief and keeping the dead present.

07/06/2023

I've always been interested in the concept of the afterlife and just posted a new blog about it on my Pychology Today site.

Reframing the end of life.

05/17/2023

I've just posted a new blog about grief and humor, titled "Laughing Through Our Tears":https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-life-changes/202305/laughing-through-our-tears.

10/14/2022

Dear Friends, I have recently committed to writing a blog about grief and loss with a particular emphasis on keeping those we’ve lost close to us and “alive” in our relationships and experience. I think that our culture interferes with this effort and leaves many grieving individuals embarrassed by the vibrant connection felt with those who’ve died, even though the griever has moved on and embraced life fully. We assume a very sharp boundary between death and life which is not culturally universal and perhaps not psychologically accurate or helpful.

I would be interested in your response to the blog entries I’ve posted on Psychology Today. Here is a link to my profile where you can find my recent blog posts!

https://lnkd.in/efey65k5

10/14/2022

I am now posting on Medium alongside Psychology Today! Have a look at my post discussing the possibility that those who've died will talk to us through Alexa...

https://medium.com//an-alexa-seance-conversations-with-those-whove-died-41a3ef04a903

07/17/2022

A new blog post is up! Entitled 'We can no longer be afraid of the dark' I discuss how, as grief has a more prominent role in today's society, we must be courageous in embracing raw, intense sadness. We must create space for darkness.

We can no longer be afraid of the dark.

07/09/2022

If you haven't seen my previous post on Psychology Today, also check out 'How to Let Grief Grow and Keep the Dead Alive'. After my husband passed away I developed a new perspective on loss, one which departed from the extensive scholarship I had done throughout my career. I came to know that 'loss' is not really loss, that the dead continue to have a vital presence in the lives of those grieving.

There is no final good-bye.