Here After with Megan Devine iHeartPodcasts

We’re on break, creating all new episodes for season 3. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorite episodes from the past year. See you soon.

 

PROLONGED GRIEF DISORDER! It’s everywhere - social media, The New York Times, The Washington Post… it’s the hot new medical condition everyone’s talking about. But why is everyone so mad about it? 

 

This week on the show, an overview of this hotly contested “new” human disorder, and what it means for the average person, for healthcare providers, and honestly - for the whole world. This is one medical diagnosis that affects everyone. 

 

Want your questions answered on the show? Submit your questions at megandevine.co

 

In this episode we cover: 


Why anyone should care what the APA thinks about grief
The actual diagnostic criteria for prolonged grief disorder (translated from psych-jargon into the way real people speak)
Access to care + funding for research: two of the main reasons people think this diagnosis could be helpful (and why it isn’t) 
The real world impact of the DSM: doubling down on shame and misunderstanding
Why launching new rules about how long it’s ok to grieve is more than a bit problematic while we’re still in the middle of a mass death and mass disabling event (aka the pandemic)
One surprise reason this diagnosis *could* be seen as a good thing



Click here for the episode webpage



Notable quotes: 

“Grief makes you less productive, and what we value above all else is productivity.” - Megan Devine



 

Questions to Carry with you: 

Read up on the unfolding public conversation about prolonged grief disorder - how do *you* feel about it? Let us know! Visit megandevine.co



Additional resources

For an interview with both Megan and the author of the NYT article, Ellen Barry, on WGBH TV Boston, click here. 

 

To read Megan’s more detailed response to the NYT article, including tweet-by-tweet takedowns of most of the major “pro disorder” points, check out the original Twitter thread, and the extended thread. Versions of these threads are also on the blog. 

 

Want to read even more about our culture’s deep avoidance of human emotion, and all the ways that messes with day to day life? Maybe more important, want to know what’s actually normal inside grief? Check out Megan’s best-selling book, It’s OK that You’re Not OK, and follow @refugeingrief on IG/FB/TW 

We recommend you check out the Perfectly Normal campaign, serving up just the validation you need when you’re feeling like the only person in the world doing that “weird” thing you do. 

 

Therapist, clinician, or other healthcare provider? Be sure to check out upcoming trainings that address PGD and re-humanizing grief. Follow Megan Devine on LinkedIn, too. 



Other articles on prolonged grief disorder include Medicalizing Grief May Threaten Our Ability to Mourn



Get in touch:

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Here After with Megan Devine. Tune in, subscribe, leave a review, send in your questions, and share the show with everyone you know. Together, we can make things better, even when they can’t be made right. 

 

To submit your questions visit megandevine.co

 

For more information, including clinical training and consulting, visit us at www.Megandevine.co

 

For grief support & education, follow us at @refugeingrief on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You’re Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed.

 

Want to talk with Megan directly? Join our patreon community for live monthly Q&A sessions. All the info at this link.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re on break, creating all new episodes for season 3. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorite episodes from the past year. See you soon.

 

Our early childhood experiences of grief - and how our family systems dealt with loss - have a huge impact on our adult behaviors and relationships. This week, author Allyson Dinneen (Notes from Your Therapist) joins me as we discuss generational grief stories. We also have the first of many conversations addressing your number one most asked question: how does a grieving therapist (or another healthcare provider) go back to work? 

 

About this week’s guest: 

Allyson Dinneen is a marriage and family therapist, author, and the creator of the immensely popular Instagram account, Notes from Your Therapist - which is also the name of her recent book. Allyson’s work has been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and more. Find her on IG @notesfromyourtherapist

 

Questions to Carry with you:

Exploring the risks and rewards of telling the truth 

 

Notable quotes:

 “I plan to keep my conversation going with grief my whole life.” - psychotherapist Allyson Dinneen

 

References:

Megan and Allyson discuss a question from a previous episode that aired on January 3rd. That episode is linked HERE.

 

Find all this, plus instructions for how to submit YOUR questions to be answered on a future show in this episode of Here After with Megan Devine. Tune in, subscribe, leave a review, and share the show with everyone you know. Together, we can make things better, even when they can’t be made right. 

 

To submit your questions visit megandevine.co

 

For more information, including clinical training and consulting, visit us at www.Megandevine.co

 

For grief support & education, follow us at @refugeingrief on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You’re Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed.

 

Want to talk with Megan directly? Join our patreon community for live monthly Q&A sessions. All the info at this link.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re on break, creating all new episodes for season 3. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorite episodes from the past year. See you soon.

 

Everybody knows the stages of grief. Even if you didn’t go to grad school, I bet you can rattle them off. Thing is - those stages don’t help anyone: not the pros trying to support patients or clients, not the person trying to survive an impossible situation. Tune in for the inside scoop on the stages of grief and what we should be doing instead, with a special shout-out to the tv shows getting grief right.  

 

In this episode we cover:

 


where the stages of grief came from, and why their creator was Less Than Pleased with what happened next
whether an “innocent” mention of the stages of grief really matters in a movie or tv show (shout out to netflix: HMU!) 
what to do if your boss asks you to support your co-workers through a death in the company
and much more, because I have a lot to say on these stages, apparently. 



Questions to Carry with you:

 


rooting out the ways the stages of grief live in your head (it’s not as uncomfortable as it sounds!) 



Extra resources: I’ve written a lot about the stages of grief. Check out this article, this instagram post, and for more of my feelings about The Starling, click here. Be sure to pick up It’s OK that You’re Not OK wherever you get your books, too - there’s a lot about the stages in there (including the reasons why graduate programs still teach this outdated model). 

 

For more help navigating grief in the workplace, check out Alica Forneret, Lantern, and Grief Coach. I provide corporate consulting on grief related comms, too. Get in touch via megandevine.co  Disclosure: these aren’t paid placements - I’ve worked with all these folks and I super dig them. Go check them (and me!) out. 

 

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Here After with Megan Devine. Tune in, subscribe, leave a review, send in your questions, and share the show with everyone you know. Together, we can make things better, even when they can’t be made right. 

 

To submit your questions visit megandevine.co

 

For more information, including clinical training and consulting, visit us at www.megandevine.co

 

For grief support & education, follow us at @refugeingrief on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

 

Want to talk with Megan directly? Join our patreon community for live monthly Q&A sessions. All the info at this link. 

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You’re Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this final episode of season two, we answer the central question from episode one: is there any hope? Okay, well we don’t answer it. But we do review what we’ve learned. Turns out, everyone has an opinion about hope - from the creative to the bleak to the functional. Maybe one of these versions speaks to you.

 

Want to talk with Megan directly? Join our patreon community for live monthly Q&A sessions. All the info at this link. 

 

About our guest:

Megan Devine is a best-selling author, psychotherapist, grief advocate and podcast host. Her book It’s OK that You’re Not OK is the go-to resource for over half a million people. Her animated short, “How to Help a Grieving Friend,” is used in training programs around the world. She’s been published in GQ, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and has served as a grief expert for major media outlets including NPR, iHeartRadio, and the PBS documentary, Speaking Grief.

 

 

For the full episode from each of the guests you heard from in the show: 

Nelba Márquez-Greene 

Rebecca Woolf 

Dr. Rana Awdish 

Emily X.R. Pan 

Emi Nietfeld 

Aubrey Hirsch 

Koshin Paley Ellison 

Leanne Pedante 

Alex Elle 

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You’re Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed.

 

Get in touch:

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Here After with Megan Devine. Tune in, subscribe, leave a review, send in your questions, and share the show with everyone you know. Together, we can make things better, even when they can’t be made right. 

 

Have a question, comment, or a topic you’d like us to cover? Visit megandevine.co to get in touch.

 

For more information, including clinical training and consulting, visit us at megandevine.co

 

For grief support & education, follow us at @refugeingrief on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you make space for the whole truth in your life? The whole truth *of* your life? This week, best-selling author Alex Elle talks about the post-partum period after the launch of her newest book, and how her healing is intertwined with hearing the truth - the whole truth - about her own life. 

 

In this episode we cover: 

 


Why one of Alex’s friends told her she stop hoarding her stories
How owning your own story - and your own healing - impacts everyone around you
The intersections of writing, healing, and grief
How to give yourself permission to heal from the same thing more than once
Why learning to slow down is the key to self-healing 

 

Notable quote: 

“No one taught me how to be a mother. No one taught me how to be warm and nurturing.

I had to figure that out on my own. No one taught me how to hold space and not try to fix someone's tears. I had to figure it out on my own. I think part of my healing and my grief work is (exploring): ‘What did I need that I didn't get?’” - Alex Elle

 

About our guest:

 

Alexandra Elle is a New York Times Bestselling author, wellness educator, and certified Breathwork coach. Her work has been featured by a wide range of media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, Good Morning America, Essence, MindBodyGreen, Forbes, and many others. She teaches workshops and leads retreats centered around writing-to-heal and self-care. Find her on social media @alex_elle, and at alexelle.com

 

Additional resources

 

Every month I host a live video Q&A session. If you’ve ever wished you could talk to me directly, this is by far the easiest way to do it. All the information is at my patreon page, right here.  Hope to see you there each month. 

 

Get in touch:

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Here After with Megan Devine. Tune in, subscribe, leave a review, and share the show with everyone you know. Together, we can make things better, even when they can’t be made right. 

 

Have a question, comment, or a topic you’d like us to cover? Message us at megandevine.co

 

For more information, including clinical training and consulting, visit us at www.megandevine.co

 

For grief support & education, follow us at @refugeingrief on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You’re Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bonus episode (and a re-release) for Valentine’s week - the love story at the core of the best-selling book, It’s OK that You’re Not OK, this podcast, and all of Megan’s work. This episode is unlike our normal weekly show. Tune in, and let us know if you’d like more occasional bonus episodes.

Resources: 

This essay first appeared in a slightly different form on Modern Loss

Get in touch: 

 

Want to talk with Megan directly? Join our patreon community for live monthly Q&A sessions. All the info at this link. 

 

Thanks for listening to this week’s bonus episode of Here After with Megan Devine. Tune in, subscribe, leave a review, send in your questions, and share the show with everyone you know. Together, we can make things better, even when they can’t be made right. 

 

For more information, including clinical training and consulting, visit us at www.megandevine.co

 

For grief support & education, follow us at @refugeingrief on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

 

Check out Megan’s best-selling books - It’s OK That You’re Not OK and How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.