1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Holly Prigerson recalls the moments in which she started investigating prolonged grief disorder.&amp;nbsp; She recalls being “a social scientist [Holly] in room a full of psychiatrists,” who recognized a diagnostic gap in people experiencing profound and potentially harmful grief far after the death of a loved one.&amp;nbsp; This led her on a remarkable journey.&amp;nbsp; Holly has accumulated mountains of evidence for the diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder as a specific condition primarily notable for a yearning over a year after the death.&amp;nbsp; Prolonged grief is associated with increased risk of suicide and other negative health outcomes.&amp;nbsp; This accumulation of data over her career led ultimately to the inclusion of Prolonged Grief Disorder first in the ICD, then in the DSM-V.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; And yet, despite mountains of evidence, Holly has taken a tremendous amount of heat for this work.&amp;nbsp; “Everyone has experienced grief, which makes everyone the expert.”&amp;nbsp; Today we offer Holly a chance to answer her critics, including assertions that: Grief is love; how can love be wrong? Pathologizing grief leads to overmedicalization of a natural condition&amp;nbsp; Prolonged grief disorder is a tool made for the pharmaceutical industry&amp;nbsp; Prolonged grief disorder does not account for cultural variation in mourning practices Along the way we talk about other related studies Holly has conducted, including a validation of DABDA - Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s famous stages of grief. And a song choice from the great lyricist Tom Waits. Enjoy! -@AlexSmithMD GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast http://www.geripal.org <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/24304329/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/135737778