Remembering to Mourn our Losses

With our weekly Psychiatry & Society video taking a short break, we bring back some of the greatest hits that are timely and continue to relate to current and uprising societal events of psychological interest.

To put some things in perspective, it is fascinating to compare where we are now to the beginning of the pandemic. So much is better, but even the most positive of cognitive reframing can’t really reassure us that we are back to some kind of similar normality.

Back over 2 years ago, I did this video on the psychological need to adequately mourn our losses of any significance during the first year of the COVID pandemic. Now, although the pandemic is less virulent, the same advice is unfortunately still relevant, as it is for me personally. At the beginning of this year, my close and well-known colleague and friend, Carl Hammershchlag, MD passed away. Last week, my best friend of 70 years and a psychiatric social worker, Barry Marcus, died. Neither was from COVID.

I will try to follow my own advice. As the tears dry up, turn to the last stage of the updated Kubler-Ross stages of grieving, which is to find as much meaning as possible in the loss.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who has specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry. A prolific writer and speaker, he received the one-time designation of Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association in 2002. He is an advocate for mental health issues related to climate instability, burnout, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism for a better world. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times™.