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Grief is an unavoidable part of the human experience, and is a natural response to loss. While grief itself can be painful, consuming us with feelings of sadness and longing, these feelings gradually fade as we adjust to life without our loved one. Those painful feelings no longer shadow the joyful memories, and we can cherish our loved one’s legacy with a deeper sense of peace, despite still missing their presence in our lives.

But for some, grief persists for six months or more, and mourning is intense and long-lasting. This prolonged grief can prevent us from resuming normal life activities, consuming us in a fog of depression.

Complicated grief, sometimes called persistent complex bereavement disorder, is more likely to occur in response to tragic, unexpected, traumatic losses. A loved one’s death may seem sudden, violent, or preventable, consuming us in “what if” ruminations. Other factors that contribute to complicated grief include a lack of social support and difficulty accepting the finality of the loss (Mayo Clinic, 2022; Szuhany et al., 2021).

Author Ethan Joella explores the complexities of grief in his latest novel, The Top of the World, a moving story about the love between siblings and how death doesn’t have to be the end of our life’s most important........

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