Thanatology,
study or science of the experience of dying and bereavement
INTRODUCTION
Thanatology,
study or science of the experience of dying and bereavement. Although people in
all societies have speculated about death, the systematic study of its
experience is a recent development. In 20th-century Western culture, until the
last few decades, a taboo existed against studying something as frightening and
personal as death. Many people still believe that studying the dying is cold and
heartless, but thanatologists consider their work potentially helpful to
everyone, because all human beings eventually must die.
In the 1950s and '60s the work of various
social scientists opened the way to the study of the psychology of dying and to
the development of programs for counseling and therapy to deal with the deep
emotional problems associated with death in modern society. The work that most
influenced public considerations of dying and bereavement is On Death and
Dying (1969) by the Swiss-born psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.
II DEATH
COUNSELING AND PROBLEMS OF THE BEREAVED
The counseling of dying patients and their
loved ones is commonly based on the general model of the experience of dying
that has been proposed by Kübler-Ross and others. They believe that the dying
patient usually goes through a series of stages (denial, anger, bargaining,
depression, and acceptance), although they recognize that an individual may show
signs of more than one stage at any time and may move back and forth between
stages. Confronted with the news that they are terminally ill, most patients
seek to deny its truth. When they do face the grim reality, they often feel
great anger and rage. Many then begin a kind of bargaining process, promising
reforms in return for recovery. Depression commonly sets in soon after this
bargaining fails to work. If patients receive adequate counseling and support
from loved ones, they ultimately accept their approaching death and are able to
die peacefully.
Dying individuals and their loved ones go
through the human grieving process. Although the experience of grieving varies
in some respects among societies and individuals, its basic aspects seem to be
universal and biological. Counseling today is concerned with helping patients
and loved ones to grieve naturally, without repressing their emotions.
III TRENDS
IN THE U.S.
Individual and group counseling by
professionals has grown steadily in the U.S. in recent years. In alleviating the
suffering of dying and grieving persons, human support, including warmth, open
acceptance, sympathy, and love, is most important. Those who are facing death or
the loss of a loved one often find that, because they share the same problem,
they can offer the best support to one another. One institutional outcome of
this realization has been the hospice movement, in which terminally ill patients
have increased control and support in determining how they experience the
medical and emotional aspects of dying.
See also Death and Dying.
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