How Men Experience Grief

The loss of a loved one is a profoundly heartbreaking experience, but it is not the same for everyone, as reported in Tuesday’s Science Times.

Research increasingly suggests that men and women experience grief in different ways, and the realization has bolstered a nascent movement of bereavement groups geared to men throughout the country.

Concern about reaching men in grief has gained new urgency with shifting demographics. The number of men ages 65 and older increased by 21 percent from 2000 to 2010, nearly double the 11.2 percent growth rate for women in that age group, according to census figures. As the gender gap in life span narrows, experts suggest that many more men will be facing the loss of loved ones, particularly spouses. Many will be not be prepared for the experience.

While women who lose their husbands often speak of feeling abandoned or deserted, widowers tend to experience the loss “as one of dismemberment, as if they had lost something that kept them organized and whole,” said Michael Caserta, chair of the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Utah.

Read the full article, “Men in Grief Seek Others Who Mourn as They Do,” and then please share your thoughts in the comments section. And don’t miss “Men Who Grieve Together,” an interactive presentation in which men talk about their experiences with bereavement.