Making Sense of Grief

A fortnightly column about emotional well-being Vicarious grief is what we experience when we hear of losses others have gone through and empathize deeply

- Sonali Gupta

In the last two weeks, both friends and clients have talked about the Ahmedabad plane crash of 12 June. They tell me how the crash evoked grief; they can't stop crying and it has evoked anxiety and fear about the fragility of life. Some clients say they are struggling with sleep, and others have had panic attacks as they saw images on social media about the lives lost.

What many of us are experiencing is vicarious grief. Our sense of empathy, compassion and capacity to feel for others is what makes us human. As a result, vicarious grief is something we experience when we witness or hear of losses that others have gone through. Watching images of the crash or reading personal stories of those who died is a reminder of all the what-ifs, and how life came to a pause so abruptly. We are left with sharp, lingering pain although we never knew those who lost their lives.