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Scientific American

Scientific American

Grief is simply the outcome of loss, but there’s a caveat—the criterion for what you lost is that you were attached to it

Scientific American
Summary
Nutrition label

61% Informative

Psychotherapist Pauline Boss coined the term “ambiguous loss” in her work with wives of soldiers missing in action in the 1970s .

Boss: Grief is simply the outcome of loss, but there’s a caveat: the criterion for what you lost is that you were attached to it.

She says people should be patient with themselves if they're feeling angry, sad, grieving right now.

LZ Granderson: Grief doesn't go away, but don’t expect it to ever go away.

LZ: Increase your tolerance for ambiguity and keep increasing your tolerance of uncertainty.

He says it's a good time to reflect on your own life and your own attachments, even if they do cause you pain sometimes.

Is there anything else you want to say about grief people might be feeling right now? Don’t be afraid of it. Just know that it’s a normal reaction to an outcome you didn’t want or expect. And it doesn’t need to go away, but hopefully it doesn’t immobilize you. The grief is frozen; you yourself shouldn’t be..

VR Score

59

Informative language

57

Neutral language

50

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

27

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

long-living

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