In Before and After Loss, neu­rol­o­gist Dr. Lisa Shul­man describes a per­son­al sto­ry of loss and her quest to under­stand the sci­ence behind the mild-alter­ing expe­ri­ence of grief. Part mem­oir, part cre­ative non­fic­tion, part sci­en­tif­ic dis­cov­ery, this mov­ing book com­bines Shulman’s per­spec­tives as an expert in brain sci­ence and behav­ior with her expe­ri­ence as a clin­i­cian a care­giv­er and a wid­ow. Draw­ing on recent stud­ies of emo­tion­al trau­ma, she explains how the mind brain and body respond and heal fol­low­ing trau­mat­ic loss. She also traces the inter­face between the expe­ri­ence of pro­found loss and the search for emo­tion­al restora­tion. The fog of con­fu­sion after loss reflects the brain’s pro­tec­tive response to trau­ma and can be reversed by mind­ful inter­ven­tions that help us inte­grate dif­fi­cult times into our life sto­ry. Com­bin­ing the sci­ence of emo­tion­al trau­ma with approach­es to heal­ing — includ­ing jour­nal­ing, dream inter­pre­ta­tion, mind­ful­ness, and reli­gious and spir­i­tu­al prac­tices — Shulman’s frank and empa­thet­ic account will help read­ers regain their emo­tion­al bal­ance by nav­i­gat­ing the pas­sage from the dis­ori­en­ta­tion of loss to heal­ing and growth.