Grief and neurological impairment

Abstract: Definitions of grief will be explored, whether ‘normal,’ prolonged/complicated or anticipated; in terms of the classes of trigger; whether the causative event is singular or continuing; and whether grief is in the subject of the event or their carers/relatives. The psychiatric literature’s attempts to classify reactions as expected and excessive, and to tease apart grief and depression will be considered before the ways in which various neurological impairments handle grief will be discussed, (stroke, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injury). From these emerge questions rather than conclusions: should grief be discussed as a verb rather than a noun (and if so which tense?), how might normal and abnormal types be defined and treated, does grief imply a single event and loss rather than unwanted presence, and why are some people more resilient? 

Bio: After medical school, (Oxford and The Middlesex Hospital), Professor Cole researched in Oxford before training in clinical neurophysiology in Southampton. He was appointed to Poole Hospital in 1990. His empirical research has focussed on motor control, and sensory loss. In parallel he has explored first person accounts of living with various neurological impairments in a series of books, the most recent of which was Losing Touch, (2016). He is a visiting professor at Bournemouth University, current President of European, Middle East and Africa Clinical Neurophysiology and an associate on the Grief Project.