Research learnings

The Learning Community will offer a free, virtual workshop, “A Broken Heart: Our Physiological Response to Loss” at 3:00pm on Thursday, February 8.

Research demonstrates that humans really can die of a broken heart. From investigations in her Grief, Loss, and Social Stress (GLASS) lab at the University of Arizona, Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor looked at mechanisms that might contribute to dying of a broken heart by assessing blood pressure reactivity waves of grief elicited in the lab. A randomized clinical trial from her lab demonstrated progressive muscle relaxation training helped to reduce grief and yearning among bereaved people, pointing to the embodied nature of grief.

Dr Mary-Frances O’Connor will present information about the work she has been doing with her lab at the University of Arizona.

About Mary-Frances O’Connor
Mary-Frances O’Connor is a founding board member of TLC. She is currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on the physiological correlates of emotion, in particular the wide range of physical and emotional responses during bereavement, including yearning and isolation. She believes that a clinical science approach toward the experience and mechanisms of grieving can improve interventions for prolonged grief disorder, newly included in the revised DSM-5.