The New York Times
Jan. 10, 2023
What we know about treating extreme grief with psychedelics
In his new memoir, Prince Harry talks about taking psychedelics to deal with the ongoing pain over the death of his mother. Grief is not a mental illness; it is a normal human experience that comes after the loss of a loved one. However, if the grief has not improved at all after a year and is affecting a person's ability to function, a diagnosis of prolonged grief, sometimes called complicated grief, might be warranted. "What we see with prolonged grief is that the grief becomes very entrenched, that things look the same for this person today as they did the day after" the death, said University of Arizona associate professor of psychology Mary-Frances O'Connor. "For a person who's adapting more typically, a year after a loss, they're still going to have sadness. They're still going to miss the person who's gone. But you can see this trajectory of change where they have started to restore a life that feels meaningful to them."