310. The Grieving Body: An Interview with Mary-Frances O’Connor

The Widowed Mom Podcast

Krista St-Germain

Mental Health, Grief, Deathofpartner, Education, Widowedmom, Deathofspouse, Widow, Lossoflovedone, Health & Fitness, Husbanddied, Self-improvement, Posttraumaticgrowth, Lifeafterloss, Overcominggrief

4.6 • 649 Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you ever wondered why grief feels so physical? Why your heart races, your sleep vanishes, and your body aches when you're mourning the loss of someone you love?

In this illuminating episode, I welcome back renowned grief researcher Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor to discuss her new book, The Grieving Body, which explores the profound physical impact of grief. Dr. O'Connor explains that grief isn't just emotional—it's deeply embodied. When we lose someone we love, it's like an amputation; part of our physical regulatory system is suddenly gone.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/310

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Widowed Mom podcast, episode 310, The Grieving Body, an interview with Mary
0:07.4	Francis O'Connor. Welcome to the Widowed Mom podcast, the only podcast that offers a proven
0:15.4	process to help you work through your grief to grow, evolve, and create a future you can truly look forward to.
0:24.2	Here's your host, Master Certified Life Coach, Grief Expert, Widow, and Mom, Krista St. Germain.
0:33.0	Hey there, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I have been waiting on this one,
0:38.4	y'all waiting on it. So credit to one of my mom goes on members, Judith, shout out to Judith,
0:45.7	who told me, because I didn't even know that Mary Frances O'Connor had released another book
0:51.0	called The Grieving Body until Judith mentioned it to me, credit to her.
0:55.2	So happy to have her back on the podcast. If you have not listened to the episode,
1:00.1	let's see, 170 that I did with Mary Frances O'Connor on her first book, The Grieving Brain,
1:06.1	definitely go and listen to that. You can listen to these in either order. It doesn't matter.
1:10.1	But if you haven't listened, definitely go listen to that one. It was September of 2024. That book, it is a must read,
1:16.6	I think, for anyone who is in our shoes. For anyone who is experiencing spousal loss,
1:22.5	partner loss, please go read this book. It sounds like it's going to be heavy. I promise you,
1:27.4	it's not. It's easy to read.
1:29.1	It is valuable. It has just been so helpful to me and to so many of my clients. So on this episode,
1:35.6	we are going to talk about Mary Frances O'Connor's new book called The Grieving Body. If you don't
1:40.2	know her, she is a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona. She directs the
1:45.1	grief, loss, and social stress or glass lab there, which investigates the effects of grief on
1:50.5	the brain and the body. And her book, The Grieving Brain, which I didn't know until recently,
1:55.5	was actually included on Oprah's list of best books to comfort a grieving friend. So definitely I think we should be friends
2:01.9	to ourselves and go read that book. Mary Francis holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the
	...

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