When grief is at its worst, it can be so physically, emotionally and intellectually assaulting, it can make alert minds seem senile, healthy bodies decay and cause sane people to believe they're going mad. Although we've all heard stories about grieving spouses dying within six months of their wives or husbands, researchers say the truth and good news is that grief won't kill you. Studies tracking people for 10 years after their losses, for example, show they are no more likely to get cancer than people without losses.
People can judge for themselves whether that's dying of a broken heart.
The second piece of good news, however, is that not everyone's grief is wrenching. When Marilyn Jaksetic's father died last year at 85, he died peacefully in his sleep. The Kansas City, Kan., woman accepted it. It's going to take longer to grieve. As icy as it may sound, for others, death can be somewhat liberating.