Lost in Loss: A Window into the Grieving Brain | Zoe Donaldson | TEDxBoulder

[stephanietorres]

My husband is in Heaven. I don't believe in "moving on" I believe in moving fwd. He's with me every step of the way

[heatherwade]

I am that person that wakes up every single day feeling like I just found out. It’s been 3.5 years. At this point I’m dead inside, avoiding everything, and faking it when I have to deal with people. Everything I do takes 4x the effort it used to.

[NikitaMaxwell]

I am so happy this comment section had the same reaction I did. This is so cruel and inhuman.If you want to understand grief, talk to people. Connect with people and really listen. We all go through it and on some level understand how painful it is. You don't need to torture animals to prove a point.

[Marginallist]

I didn’t think i would ever write a comment like this but: if you make other living beings going through the pain of the lost to understand what grief is, emotionally you are not capable enough to understand what grief is.

[josephgatambia]

Watching this 1 week after loosing my brother, and today is one of my lowest moments, kindly remember me in prayer

[tarahartshorne]

My daughter died august 2 2022 and I wake up every morning feeling like it’s the first day all over again. I can’t imagine trying to learn to exist without her. It seems impossible 😭

[apurvasinghai]

I lost my loving dad and uncle in 2018 and I have not been able to move on. I yearn to meet them. Internet is the only place where I can describe my feelings with complete honesty. Not a single day passes when I don't cry but I don't feel bad about this crying. I yearn to see them, to hear them and to feel their touch. Why is life so hard?

[malia]

Please tell me this dr didn’t put innocent animals through traumatic loss just so she could study their brain wavelengths. My God, humanity is cruel.

[jayanthiaparasanfs]

I stopped watching this half way. These types of experiments should be stopped immediately. It's cruel. You have no right to torture animals like this. Remember that you are actually giving yourself what you think you are giving others. Once you understand this you will stop inflicting pain to another.

[lyndanixon]

My darling son Alex died suddenly 2 months ago, 2 hours before his birthday....life stopped and then just changed....you don't move on you just try to keep going...and you choose a beautiful elite of people to surround you

[beeyourselfcounselling]

This is just friggin sad. I can't believe having lost a cat you would do studies like this. Why not ASK grieving humans who are WILLING to participate in a study and do MRIs or CTs or whatever on their grieving brains? As a grief and loss counsellor for pet owners I'm just completely gutted by this study. I was hoping to see something on the HUMAN brain, like I said by ASKING humans who would be more than happy to find out more about their own grief. Gosh, it's going to take me ages to get over what you do to animals now. :(

[samlee]

Aside from the cruelty of the experiment, it is also flawed. She wanted to see how the animal would behave once the partner is permanently gone (like death) but changed nothing in the experiment. How is the animal supposed to know their partner is gone permanently? Not letting them see their partner after triggering the lever only incites more suffering on the animal in her experiment. Horrible experiment.

[monikahoffmann]

Thank you to all the people who wrote objections to these heartless “scientific” cruelties. I am with you all the way. I am perplexed at how casually this is presented when it comes to research. In our world today animal abuse is not condoned. But scientists freely describe the horrific things they are doing without entertaining the notion that this is objectionable to a great many people. As long as humans derive some sort of benefit it’s ok, no matter how violent it is to another innocent being?

[arunveergrewal]

But imagine putting those innocent animals through that unsettling and crushing feeling of losing their beloved ones just for the sake of this experiment. Cruel....

[pixieheart]

I'm so glad I read through the comments before watching this video.

[darlenewedra]

Since the passing of my husband of 50 years, I’ve left listen to many many people talking about how we should react when we grieve. I have come to the realization, that they are telling me something that I already know. The pain, the hard ache, nothing to look forward to, although we do have Family who love us. That doesn’t take the pain away. Time may heal Us somehow, but nothing can take away the emptiness in our hearts. I’ve decided I’m not listening to people trying to persuade me that I should feel otherwise.

[gilliansernich]

If you recognize suffering, why would you inflict it on other sentient beings? To me, this is unthinkable. What did you teach the world about grief? Absolutely nothing!! For Christ's sake go and read the great novels if don't understand the human heart. Leave these poor, suffering creatures in peace.

[fashunpuss]

I came here because I lost my Mother less than a week ago and BAM - get hit with animal testing. NO THANKS.

[brianwebberable]

AWFUL. Why do these cruel tests with animals? Why? For our own selfish benefit? It is immensely, immensely cruel.

[BT-mwht]

The study didn't really prove much about grief, other than that animals do indeed have valid bonds with each other - which is something we already knew.
The study is animal cruelty, and I don't think it went into enough detail to even be called a study. To me it seems more like a curious and cruel experiment.

Grief is "simply frustration" is also kind of an offensive thing to say to people who have experienced a huge loss. To boil it down to just frustration when it's a complex lifelong experience...?