Summary: Columbia University Clinical Psychology Professor GEORGE BONANNO takes on the conventional wisdom about grieving. There's little evidence to support the existence of stages of mourning or the corollary that if the stages aren't followed completely, there's cause for alarm. What Bonanno does find is a natural resilience that guides us through the sadness of loss; it also elicits the compassion and concern that humans are hard-wired to offer in response to another's suffering. Bonanno acknowledges that grief is sometimes extreme and requires treatment but he approaches his work in a thoughtful, kindhearted way; stories of loss go far beyond striking a familiar chord—they give us hope.
