Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

CrowdScience: Why does grief leave me feeling this way?

Discussion & Talk

Families Mourn Victims of The Tamaulipas Massacre in Tuilelén, Guatemala

16/04/2021 GMT

Why does grief leave me feeling this way?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Why does grief leave me feeling this way?

Grief can be crippling. Why have we evolved to be so affected by loss?

Be it the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship or the loss of a job, grief can be crippling. Does it serve any purpose?

Grief is universal. It is something almost all of us will go through at some point. And it is something that the people we love will experience when we die.

Grief can be all consuming, it can make everyday tasks like getting out of bed, feel impossible. Which makes listener Oliver from Australia wonder - what is the point? It doesn’t bring what we lost, back.

Why have we evolved to be so affected by loss? Be it the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship or the loss of a job. Does it serve any purpose? Or perhaps it is just the price we pay for being a social species with such strong connections.

Image:  Families Mourn Victims of The Tamaulipas Massacre in Tuilelén, Guatemala
Photo by Josue Decavele/Getty Images

Produced by Caroline Steel and presented by Marnie Chesterton for BBC World Service.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Why does grief leave me feeling this way?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service