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Articles on Bereavement

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When a person loses a loved one to COVID-19, the mental health effects can be severe. Ol'ga Efimova / EyeEm via Getty Images

1 in 8 U.S. deaths from 2020 to 2021 came from COVID-19 – leaving millions of relatives reeling from distinctly difficult grief

COVID-19 deaths tend to be more unexpected and traumatic than other types of deaths. A sociologist explains the mental health burdens facing the millions who’ve lost a relative to the coronavirus.
Spirit photograph by William Hope, taken around 1920. (National Media Museum Collection/Flickr)

Spirit photography captured love, loss and longing

Today viewers may be preoccupied by the methods used by spirit photographers, but spirit photographs had a notable impact on the bereaved who commissioned the portraits.
For four decades, the Chinese government has restricted family size. Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images

China’s ‘one-child policy’ left at least 1 million bereaved parents childless and alone in old age, with no one to take care of them

China limited families to one child from 1980 to 2015 to curb population growth. The policy paid off economically for the country, but it left couples whose only child died grieving and impoverished.
A funeral director calls relatives of a COVID-19 victim for a virtual viewing before cremation on May 22, 2020 in New York City. Misha Friedman/Getty Images

Different faiths, same pain: How to grieve a death in the coronavirus pandemic

Religious scholars and faith leaders reflect on the death rites cultures have developed to honor the deceased, comfort the living and share the burden of mourning.
In places where children die with tragic frequency, the collective grief of parents affects all society. Mary Long/Shutterstock

Measuring maternal grief in Africa

In many sub-Saharan African countries, 20% of mothers have suffered the death of a child, a new study finds. In Mali, Liberia and Malawi, it’s common for mothers to lose two children.

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