Understanding the Many Forms of Grief

This week on ShrinkChicks, Em and Jen explore grief; not just the kind that follows death, but the many forms of loss that shape our lives. From pregnancy loss to complicated family relationships to the life you imagined but didn’t get, grief can surface in ways people don’t always expect or understand. They talk through different types of grief, including anticipatory grief, ambiguous grief, traumatic grief, and disenfranchised grief, and why many people feel guilty grieving something that others might not recognize as a “real” loss. The conversation also touches on how grief resurfaces during milestones, why long-term grief is normal, and how a culture focused on positivity can make it harder to honor what hurts. Listener questions include coping with miscarriage, grieving a parent who is still alive but emotionally unavailable, navigating suicide loss, and mourning the future you thought you’d have. Tune in to gain insight, awareness, and action! PS: Fast forward to around 3:30 to skip the intro and get straight to today’s content. ⁠ Get Matched With One of Our Therapists ⁠ at The Therapy Group! ⁠ShrinkChicks on Instagram⁠ Our ⁠Know Yourself Grow Yourself Journal⁠ !! Check out ShrinkChicks on YouTube by subscribing here! ⁠ A special thank you to this week's sponsors for supporting ShrinkChicks! We have these exclusive offers for our listeners: AG1: Go to DRINKAG1.com/SHRINKCHICKS to get an AG1 Flavor Sampler and a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2 for FREE in your AG1 Welcome Kit with your first AG1subscription order Air Doctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code SHRINKCHICKS to get UP TO $300 off today Quince : Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/shrinkchicks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns on your next order GreenChef: Head to Greenchef.com/50shrinkchicks and use code 50shrinkchicks to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping Pique Life: Unlock 20% off and establish your powerful foundation for sustained well-being at Piquelife.com/shrinkchicks See Privacy Policy at and California Privacy Notice at .

You can listen to Understanding the Many Forms of Grief online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Understanding the Many Forms of Grief is an episode from ShrinkChicks by Jennifer Chaiken, LMFT and Emmalee Bierly, LMFT.

This episode is 00:38:23 long.

This episode was published on Mar 23, 2026.

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