When Grief and Trauma Collide – Christina Babich, MA
From Grief Out Loud by The Dougy Center
February 3, 2026 · 51 min · Episode 343
About this episode
Christina Babich discusses her experience of navigating grief and trauma after the sudden death of her partner, Alex, and how it has influenced her work as a psychologist.
When Christina Babich's partner, Alex, died suddenly from a brain aneurysm while they were visiting his family in Italy, her world shattered in more ways than one . In addition to the grief of losing the person she loved and the future they were building together, Christina was also left to navigate the aftermath of a deeply traumatic event - one that profoundly impacted her nervous system, sense of safety, and identity. In this episode, Christina shares what it was like to grieve a sudden, "out-of-order" death while also navigating the derealization, hypervigilance, and other ways the trauma of his death affected her. She talks about how being a "quasi widow" shaped the care and recognition she received and why platitudes about resilience and post-traumatic growth can sometimes feel alienating rather than supportive. Christina also reflects on how her personal experience shaped her work as a psychologist specializing in grief and trauma, including the role of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), the pressure placed on people who are grieving to "transform" their pain, and the i mportance of being witnes sed by someone wh o truly understands. We discuss The difference between…
People in this episode
Guest: Christina Babich
Topics covered
- grief
- trauma
- Cognitive Processing Therapy
- mental health
- identity
- sudden death
Keywords
- grief
- trauma
- Cognitive Processing Therapy
- PTSD
- derealization
- quasi-widow
- mental health
- identity loss
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Dougy Center
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