Memories, Emotions, and Loss: Reflections on Grief

3.0 Credit Hours

Presented by: Dr. Mary Lamia

Course Description

Grief isn’t limited to death—it accompanies many kinds of loss: a family breakdown, cognitive decline, mental illness, the loss of home, or relationship rupture. We grieve because memory reminds us that life used to be different.

Grief involves conflict between recent memories (which tell us someone is gone) and older memories (which insist they are still present). How people reconcile these competing internal experiences shapes emotional responses to loss.

Implicit memory can distort new experiences, contributing to unusual symptoms. Shame, identity disruption, and reactivation of earlier losses all play a role. Grief is not a series of stages; it can take years—or a lifetime—to integrate.

Hope, however, helps people move forward while staying connected to memories.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn:

Memory & Emotion

• How systems of memory and emotion shape grief.
• The co‑mingled affects involved in grieving.
• Why sensory and involuntary memories are especially powerful.

Psychological Process

• Why bereaved individuals “seek” the deceased.
• Why acceptance and closure are misapplied.
• Why consolidation may take years or a lifetime.
• How loss impacts identity.
• The role of shame when bonds are broken.

Clinical Considerations

• Risk factors in Prolonged Grief Disorder.
• Pros/cons of meaning-making.
• Myths about resilience.
• Why hope is essential.

Presenter Biography

Dr. Mary Lamia is a clinical psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area and emeritus professor at the Wright Institute. Her work clarifies the role of shame in mental health, challenges misconceptions about emotion, and reframes procrastination as a motivational style.

She writes for Psychology Today and Thrive Global and has authored: - Grief Isn’t Something to Get Over (2022) - The Upside of Shame (2018) - What Motivates Getting Things Done (2017) - Emotions: Making Sense of Your Feelings (2012) - Understanding Myself (2010) - The White Knight Syndrome (2009)

Registration:

Members:

• On or before January 16, 202: $75
• After January 16, 2026: $100

Non-Members

• On or before January 16, 202: $100
• After January 16, 2026: $125

Students

• Student/Resident UPA Members: Free
• Non-members Students: $15