Gallifreyan Grief Counselling
There's been a lot of discussion lately, after the last couple of episodes, about the Doctor's relationships with his companions and his family (whoever they were) and the fact that he pretty much never talks about them and what that means, and so on. And, apropos of nothing other than the fact that I've been thinking about it, I thought I'd point out that we have, in fact, a canonical statement from the Doctor on the subject of how he thinks about the people he loves who are no longer with him.
From "Tomb of the Cybermen":
[Victoria has recently lost her father. The Second Doctor is assuring her, in a kindly and sympathetic way, that her grief won't last forever.]
VICTORIA: "I think it will. You can't understand, being so ancient... You probably can't remember your family."
THE DOCTOR: "Oh, yes, I can. When I want to. And that's the point, really. I have to really want to - to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they sleep in my mind and I forget. And so will you. Oh, yes, you will. You'll find there's so much else to think about, to remember. Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing! Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing!"
Really, I think that says it all.
From "Tomb of the Cybermen":
[Victoria has recently lost her father. The Second Doctor is assuring her, in a kindly and sympathetic way, that her grief won't last forever.]
VICTORIA: "I think it will. You can't understand, being so ancient... You probably can't remember your family."
THE DOCTOR: "Oh, yes, I can. When I want to. And that's the point, really. I have to really want to - to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they sleep in my mind and I forget. And so will you. Oh, yes, you will. You'll find there's so much else to think about, to remember. Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing! Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing!"
Really, I think that says it all.