Mourning and melancholia

Now, this idea isn't new.

Sigmund Freud wrote about it more than 100 years ago in an essay that's called Mourning and Melancholia.

He observed that the harsh self-criticism of people in deep grief often looked like anger at the lost person re-redirected at the self.

So whatever you think of Freud in general, that observation I think has held up remarkably well.