Again, we know nothing about which came first; it’s the-chicken-or-the-egg problem. Did the stress of adapting to a death affect cognitive functioning, or did the older person’s cognitive functioning affect their ability to process the death and its aftermath? Poorer overall cognitive function may lead to more severe grief because it is harder to adjust to loss with less cognitive capacity. Alternatively, cognitive function may be impaired because a prolonged grief reaction may affect the structure or function of neurons, and consequently, the mental functions our brain enables.
