A Broken Heart:
Our Physiological Response to Loss
A Workshop With Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor
Research demonstrates that we 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. Join us as Dr. O’Connor discusses her findings as well as other research in the field.
Mary-Frances O'Connor, PhD
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.