Can media coverage of a celebritys death help the grieving process?
DK: Seeing funerals and coffins or a tragic event that’s being replayed on TV can be helpful to process the death if you’re prepared for it and it’s done appropriately. It doesn’t speed up the grieving process, though. Grief is a natural, healthy reaction. Compared to mourning, which is what we do externally, grief is what we do internally. We may discontinue to outwardly mourn someone, but we may still grieve for them for years. Grief goes away then comes back. In grief, things don’t hurt less; they just hurt less often. Media coverage of the anniversary of a celebrity’s death, though, can help us continue to grieve if we need to process the death a little more. For instance, if you lost a loved one or are connected somehow to 9/11, or just feel moved by that day, you can tune in on September [11] and see some kind of memorial. That’s just as true with a celebrity’s passing. Many times, they’ll do something on the anniversary of the death. If you feel like you need to reconnect and re
