Betrayal, Closure, and Ambiguous Grief with Stephanie Sarazin

Today on Conversations with Nick Thompson, we're going to talk about a mental health phenomenon that I was previously unfamiliar with: ambiguous grief.    Ambiguous grief is loosely defined as being suffered when a loved one isn't as they once were but is still alive.    When we grieve a death, the finality of death forces us towards closure and pushes us through the stages of grief.    In ambiguous grief, we don't receive that same closure because even though the person we knew is gone, they are still alive. This can occur when a long-term relationship ends, when a parent has a cognitive degenerative disease, or any other circumstance where someone you love has been changed for good. We are left in a limbo where we may hope that the person we once knew may come back, even though we know deep down that they never will.   That leads us to today's guest, Stephanie Sarazin. Stephanie is the author of the book "Soulbroken: A Guidebook for your Journey Through Ambiguous Grief," and the foremost expert on the subject. I met Stephanie through a mutual friend, and I was very intrigued by her story. As I was researching this topic, all roads led to Stephanie, making me realize that this is something she is making discoveries daily as the foremost expert in the field.   In our conversation, Stephanie shares her true story about her marriage ending and how it led her to define ambiguous grief. Stephanie is very passionate and vulnerable, a trait that makes her so compelling.   Find Stephanie Sarazin here:   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephing_thru/    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniesarazin/    Website: https://www.ambiguousgrief.com/    Pre-Order Stephanie's book "Soulbroken" here: https://www.amazon.com/Soulbroken-Guidebook-Journey-Through-Ambiguous/dp/1538709759/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DY7GWMILY7JW&keywords=stephanie+sarazin&qid=1661981786&sprefix=stephanie+sarazin%2Caps%2C197&sr=8-1    Find Nick Thompson here:   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nthompson513/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXipWcR8Pit6vYHd1ZcKgKg