Hayden Panettiere’s Death Is Hitting 1 Generation Especially Hard. Therapists Know Why.

Following Hayden Panettiere's death at 36, therapists say the outpouring of grief from many millennials who grew up watching her work reflects a well-documented phenomenon called a parasocial relationship, a one-sided bond the brain builds through repeated exposure to a public figure.

Grief therapist Gina Moffa and psychiatrist Dr. Jessi Gold told HuffPost that mirror neurons and years of familiarity let people feel real attachment to celebrities they've never met, especially when that figure's presence coincided with formative years of their own lives.

Therapist Tychelle Graham-Moskowitz added that such deaths can jolt millennials into confronting their own mortality, turning a stranger's loss into a deeply personal reckoning.

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