The current coronavirus pandemic is resulting in widespread grief of various forms. Many are suffering bereavements, or anticipating future bereavements. Grief is likely to be exacerbated by isolation due to social distancing measures, and customary mourning practices and rituals may be impeded. People may also be grieving the loss of opportunities, security and social connections, and are facing a great deal of uncertainty about the future.
Grief and the Pandemic: Watch our film collaboration with Calling the Shots productions for the Arts and Humanities Research Council supported by BBC Arts Culture in Quarantine. The film is part of the Animated Thinking series of films, based on the work of UK academics. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Click to read our short and accessible paper 'The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Bounds of Grief', which addresses the question of whether even those who have not suffered a bereavement may nonetheless have had interestingly grief-like experiences during the pandemic.
Also below is a short podcast exploring these issues by project co-investigator Louise Richardson.
Grief and the Pandemic: Watch our film collaboration with Calling the Shots productions for the Arts and Humanities Research Council supported by BBC Arts Culture in Quarantine. The film is part of the Animated Thinking series of films, based on the work of UK academics. Available on BBC iPlayer.
Click to read our short and accessible paper 'The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Bounds of Grief', which addresses the question of whether even those who have not suffered a bereavement may nonetheless have had interestingly grief-like experiences during the pandemic.
Also below is a short podcast exploring these issues by project co-investigator Louise Richardson.
Included below are links to relevant resources, research, and popular articles related to grief during the Covid-19 outbreak. This page will be updated as the situation develops.
Academic Articles
Pearce, C., Honey, J. R., Lovick, R., et al. (2021). ‘A silent epidemic of grief’: a survey of bereavement care provision in the UK and Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Open.
lbuquerque S., Teixeira, A. M., & Rocha, J. C., (2021). COVID-19 and Disenfranchised Grief. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12(638874), 1-4.
Sherman A. Lee & Robert A. Neimeyer (2020) Pandemic Grief Scale: A screening tool for dysfunctional grief due to a COVID-19 loss, Death Studies.
Goveas, J. S., & Shear, M. K. (2020). Grief and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Older Adults. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(10), 1119–1125.
Zhai, Y., & Du, X. (2020). Loss and grief amidst COVID-19: A path to adaptation and resilience. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, 80–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.053
Eisma, M. C., Boelen, P. A., & Lenferink, L. (2020). Prolonged grief disorder following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Psychiatry research, 288, 113031.
Wallace, C. L.; Wladkowski, S. P.; Gibson, A. & White, P. (2020). Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Palliative Care Providers. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
Yardley, S., & Rolph, M. (2020). Death and dying during the pandemic. BMJ. 369 :m1472
Pearce, C., Honey, J. R., Lovick, R., et al. (2021). ‘A silent epidemic of grief’: a survey of bereavement care provision in the UK and Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Open.
lbuquerque S., Teixeira, A. M., & Rocha, J. C., (2021). COVID-19 and Disenfranchised Grief. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12(638874), 1-4.
Sherman A. Lee & Robert A. Neimeyer (2020) Pandemic Grief Scale: A screening tool for dysfunctional grief due to a COVID-19 loss, Death Studies.
Goveas, J. S., & Shear, M. K. (2020). Grief and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Older Adults. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(10), 1119–1125.
Zhai, Y., & Du, X. (2020). Loss and grief amidst COVID-19: A path to adaptation and resilience. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, 80–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.053
Eisma, M. C., Boelen, P. A., & Lenferink, L. (2020). Prolonged grief disorder following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Psychiatry research, 288, 113031.
Wallace, C. L.; Wladkowski, S. P.; Gibson, A. & White, P. (2020). Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Palliative Care Providers. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
Yardley, S., & Rolph, M. (2020). Death and dying during the pandemic. BMJ. 369 :m1472
Popular Media
Bereavement during the pandemic
COVID Has Put the World at Risk of Prolonged Grief Disorder (19/05/21, Scientific American)
I need to grieve for my mum – but the pandemic has taken that away (14/03/21, Telegraph)
Coronavirus: Coping with grief during a lockdown (27/03/20, BBC)
Dear Therapist Writes to Herself in Her Grief (30/03/20, The Atlantic)
The pandemic will pass. Our grief will endure (06/04/20, Washington Post)
Processing Grief During a Pandemic, When Nothing Is Normal (10/04/20, Rolling Stone)
How coronavirus has transformed the grieving process (17/04/20, The Conversation)
Coronavirus grief: 'Lockdown makes a bizarre situation ten times worse' (02/07/20, BBC)
Non-bereavement losses
‘Complex and quite ambiguous loss’: what Covid has done to our mental health (04/09/21, The Guardian)
That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief (23/03/20, Harvard Business Review)
Grieving the Losses of Coronavirus (23/03/20, New York Times)
Trouble Focusing? Not Sleeping? You May Be Grieving (09/04/20, New York Times)
We’re Not Ready for This Kind of Grief (13/04/20, The Atlantic)
Collective and societal grief
'Unresolved grief': coronavirus presents eerie parallels for Aids advocates (22/03/20, The Guardian)
Coronavirus shows the UK must reimagine how it grieves (08/04/20, New Statesman)
How to grieve for 10,000 people (13/04/20, The Guardian)
Coronavirus: Grieving together with a yellow heart (16/05/20, BBC)
Changes to mourning rituals
Coronavirus: Britons saying final goodbyes to dying relatives by videolink (24/03/20, The Guardian)
Coronavirus: How Covid-19 is denying dignity to the dead in Italy (25/03/20, BBC)
Coronavirus: How to grieve a loved one when you can't say goodbye (04/04/20, BBC)
Tomb Sweeping Festival: China pays 'virtual' respects to ancestors (04/04/20, BBC)
'It’s grief upon grief': the harsh reality of funerals in lockdown (14/04/20, The Guardian)
The lonely reality of grieving online during social isolation (13/04/20, MIT Technology Review)
Notes From a Videochat Memorial (23/04/20, The Atlantic)
Mourning at a distance (03/05/20, The Guardian)
Reinventing Grief in an Era of Enforced Isolation (04/05/20, The New Yorker)
'My rabbi's tools now include a phone': UK Jewish burials changed by Covid-19 (14/05/30, The Guardian)
Time perception during the pandemic
When time stops (17/04/20, The Week)
Why time feels so weird right now (07/05/20, Vox)
COVID Has Put the World at Risk of Prolonged Grief Disorder (19/05/21, Scientific American)
I need to grieve for my mum – but the pandemic has taken that away (14/03/21, Telegraph)
Coronavirus: Coping with grief during a lockdown (27/03/20, BBC)
Dear Therapist Writes to Herself in Her Grief (30/03/20, The Atlantic)
The pandemic will pass. Our grief will endure (06/04/20, Washington Post)
Processing Grief During a Pandemic, When Nothing Is Normal (10/04/20, Rolling Stone)
How coronavirus has transformed the grieving process (17/04/20, The Conversation)
Coronavirus grief: 'Lockdown makes a bizarre situation ten times worse' (02/07/20, BBC)
Non-bereavement losses
‘Complex and quite ambiguous loss’: what Covid has done to our mental health (04/09/21, The Guardian)
That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief (23/03/20, Harvard Business Review)
Grieving the Losses of Coronavirus (23/03/20, New York Times)
Trouble Focusing? Not Sleeping? You May Be Grieving (09/04/20, New York Times)
We’re Not Ready for This Kind of Grief (13/04/20, The Atlantic)
Collective and societal grief
'Unresolved grief': coronavirus presents eerie parallels for Aids advocates (22/03/20, The Guardian)
Coronavirus shows the UK must reimagine how it grieves (08/04/20, New Statesman)
How to grieve for 10,000 people (13/04/20, The Guardian)
Coronavirus: Grieving together with a yellow heart (16/05/20, BBC)
Changes to mourning rituals
Coronavirus: Britons saying final goodbyes to dying relatives by videolink (24/03/20, The Guardian)
Coronavirus: How Covid-19 is denying dignity to the dead in Italy (25/03/20, BBC)
Coronavirus: How to grieve a loved one when you can't say goodbye (04/04/20, BBC)
Tomb Sweeping Festival: China pays 'virtual' respects to ancestors (04/04/20, BBC)
'It’s grief upon grief': the harsh reality of funerals in lockdown (14/04/20, The Guardian)
The lonely reality of grieving online during social isolation (13/04/20, MIT Technology Review)
Notes From a Videochat Memorial (23/04/20, The Atlantic)
Mourning at a distance (03/05/20, The Guardian)
Reinventing Grief in an Era of Enforced Isolation (04/05/20, The New Yorker)
'My rabbi's tools now include a phone': UK Jewish burials changed by Covid-19 (14/05/30, The Guardian)
Time perception during the pandemic
When time stops (17/04/20, The Week)
Why time feels so weird right now (07/05/20, Vox)