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This landmark text in death education draws on contributions from the social and behavioral sciences as well as the humanities, such as history, religion, philosophy, literature, and the arts, to provide thorough coverage of understanding death and the dying process. The text focuses on both individual and societal attitudes and how they influence both how and when we die and how we live and deal with the knowledge of death and loss. Robert Kastenbaum is a renowned scholar in the field who developed one of the world's first death education courses and introduced the first text for this market.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. xvii)
• 1 As We Think about Death(p. 3)
• Not Thinking about Death: A Failed Experiment(p. 5)
• Listening and Communicating(p. 6)
• Your Self-Inventory of Attitudes, Beliefs, and Feelings(p. 7)
• Some Answers-and the Questions They Raise(p. 12)
• Knowledge Base(p. 12)
• Attitudes, Experiences, Beliefs, Feelings(p. 12)
• How Does State of Mind Affect Death-Related Behavior?(p. 14)
• Man is Mortal: But What Does That Have to Do with Me?(p. 15)
• Anxiety, Denial, and Acceptance: Three Core Concepts(p. 16)
• Theories and Studies of Death Anxiety(p. 16)
• Major Findings from Self-Reports of Death Anxiety(p. 17)
• How Much Do We Fear Death?(p. 17)
• Are There Gender Differences in Death Anxiety?(p. 17)
• Are There Age Differences in Death Anxiety?(p. 17)
• Is Death Anxiety Related to Mental Health and Illness?(p. 18)
• Does Religious Belief Lower or Raise Death Anxiety?(p. 18)
• Situational Death Anxiety(p. 19)
• Theoretical Perspectives on Death Anxiety(p. 20)
• Early Psychoanalytic Theory(p. 20)
• The Existential Challenge(p. 20)
• Edge Theory(p. 21)
• Accepting and Denying Death(p. 22)
• Types and Contexts of Acceptance and Denial(p. 22)
• The Interpersonal Side of Acceptance and Denial(p. 24)
• Anxiety, Denial, and Acceptance: How Should We Respond?(p. 25)
• In the Shade of the Jambu Tree(p. 26)
• Summary(p. 27)
• 2 What is Death? What Does Death Mean?(p. 31)
• Competing Ideas about the Nature and Meaning of Death(p. 33)
• Death as Observed, proclaimed, and Imagined(p. 34)
• Death as Symbolic Construction(p. 37)
• Biomedical Approaches to the Definition of Death(p. 39)
• Traditional Determination of Death(p. 39)
• Ways of Being Dead(p. 40)
• Brain Death and the Harvard Criteria(p. 42)
• The Harvard Criteria(p. 42)
• The Current Scene(p. 43)
• Event Versus State(p. 44)
• What Does Death Mean?(p. 44)
• Interpretations of the Death State(p. 45)
• Enfeebled Life(p. 45)
• Continuation(p. 45)
• Perpetual Development(p. 45)
• Waiting(p. 46)
• Cycling and Recycling(p. 47)
• Nothing(p. 48)
• Virtual, Therefore Not Death(p. 48)
• Implications of the Ways in Which We Interpret Death(p. 49)
• Conditions That Resemble Death(p. 50)
• Inorganic and Unresponsive(p. 50)
• Sleep and Altered States of Consciousness(p. 51)
• Beings Who Resemble or Represent Death(p. 52)
• Death as a Person(p. 53)
• How We Personify Death: The First Study(p. 54)
• The Follow-Up Study(p. 55)
• Conditions That Death Resembles(p. 56)
• Social Death(p. 56)
• Phenomenological Death(p. 57)
• Death as an Agent of Personal, Political, and Social Change(p. 58)
• The Great Leveler(p. 58)
• The Great Validator(p. 59)
• Death Unites/Separates(p. 59)
• The Ultimate Problem or the Ultimate Solution?(p. 61)
• The Ultimate Meaningless Event(p. 61)
• Summary(p. 62)
• 3 The Death System(p. 67)
• A World Without Death(p. 72)
• General Consequences(p. 72)
• Personal Consequences(p. 73)
• Basic Characteristics of the Death System(p. 74)
• Components of the Death System(p. 75)
• People(p. 75)
• Places(p. 76)
• Times(p. 77)
• Objects(p. 78)
• Symbols(p. 78)
• Functions of the Death System(p. 79)
• Warnings and Predictions(p. 79)
• Preventing Death(p. 80)
• Caring for the Dying(p. 80)
• Disposing of the Dead(p. 81)
• Social Consolidation After Death(p. 82)
• Making Sense of Death(p. 83)
• Killing(p. 85)
• War as a Function of Society(p. 87)
• A Deadly Species(p. 87)
• Sacrifice: Killing for Life(p. 89)
• Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina-Challenges to the Death System(p. 90)
• Tsunami: A Stealth Wave and Its Impact(p. 90)
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita(p. 92)
• The Katrina Timeline(p. 92)
• Hurricane Katrina and the Death System(p. 93)
• How our Death System Has Been Changing-And the "Deathniks" who are Making A difference(p. 95)
• Changing Ways of Life, Changing Ways of Death(p. 95)
• The Beginnings of Death Education, Research, and Counseling(p. 96)
• Causes of Death: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow(p. 97)
• Basic Terms and Concepts(p. 98)
• Leading Causes of Death in the United States Today(p. 99)
• What Will Be the Cause of My Death?(p. 100)
• Causes of Death in the Future?(p. 101)
• Summary(p. 102)
• 4 Dying: Transition from Life(p. 107)
• The Moment of Death: Is it Vanishing?(p. 108)
• The Slipping Away(p. 109)
• Dying as Transition(p. 110)
• What is Dying, and When Does it Begin?(p. 111)
• Individual and Interpersonal Responses(p. 111)
• Onset of the Dying Process: Alternative Perspectives(p. 113)
• Trajectories of Dying: From Beginning to End(p. 117)
• Certainty and Time(p. 117)
• The Lingering Trajectory(p. 118)
• The Expected Quick Trajectory(p. 119)
• The Unexpected Quick Trajectory(p. 120)
• Life-or-Death Emergencies(p. 121)
• Healthy People Who are at Risk: Hemophilia(p. 123)
• Guarded Feelings, Subtle Communications(p. 124)
• Difficulties in Communication(p. 124)
• Doctor-Patient Communication: The SUPPORT Study(p. 126)
• Improving Communication(p. 127)
• Individuality and Universality in the Experience of Dying(p. 130)
• Factors that Influence the Experience of Dying(p. 130)
• Where and How We Die-From the Abstract to the Particular(p. 132)
• Theoretical Models of the Dying Process(p. 133)
• Do We Die in Stages?(p. 133)
• A Developmental Coping Model of the Dying Process(p. 136)
• The Dying Person's Own Reality as the Model(p. 136)
• A Multiple Perspective Approach(p. 137)
• Your Deathbed Scene(p. 140)
• Improving End-of-Life Care(p. 140)
• Summary(p. 141)
• 5 Hospice and Palliative Care(p. 147)
• Outside Mainstream Society(p. 149)
• Hospice: A Flowering from Ancient Roots(p. 151)
• Standards of Care for the Terminally Ill(p. 154)
• Hidden or Implicit Standards of Care(p. 154)
• Proposed Standards Recommended by the International Task Force(p. 155)
• Establishment of Hospice Programs in the United States(p. 156)
• The Hospice in Action(p. 157)
• Entering St. Christopher's(p. 157)
• Mother's Last Moments: A Daughter's Experience(p. 158)
• Dying from Two Worlds(p. 159)
• Adult Respite Care(p. 159)
• Hospice-Inspired Care for Children(p. 160)
• Hospice Care for People with AIDS(p. 161)
• Hospice Care on the International Scene(p. 162)
• Relief of Pain and Suffering(p. 163)
• Why Pain Must Be Controlled(p. 163)
• Other Symptoms and Problems(p. 165)
• Your Deathbed Scene, Revisited(p. 167)
• Hospice Access, Decision Making, and Challenges(p. 167)
• Dame Cicely Saunders' Reflections on Hospice(p. 169)
• Summary(p. 171)
• 6 End of Life Issues and Decisions(p. 175)
• From Description to Decision Making(p. 176)
• Who Should Participate in End-of-Life Decisions?(p. 176)
• The Living Will and its Impact(p. 178)
• Right-to-Die Decisions That We Can Make(p. 179)
• From Living Will to Patient Self-Determination Act(p. 180)
• College Students' Attitudes Toward End-of-Life Issues(p. 182)
• Advance Medical Directives: What Should We Do?(p. 183)
• A Right Not to Die? The Cryonics Alternative(p. 184)
• Historical Background(p. 184)
• Rationale and Method(p. 185)
• Heads of Stone: A Radical New Development(p. 186)
• More Questions(p. 187)
• Organ Donation(p. 187)
• Funeral-Related Decisions(p. 188)
• A Perspective on End-of-Life Decisions(p. 190)
• Summary(p. 191)
• 7 Suicide(p. 195)
• What Do the Statistics Tell Us?(p. 199)
• Suicide Patterns in the United States(p. 200)
• What About Suicide Attempts?(p. 202)
• The Human Side(p. 202)
• Four Problem Areas(p. 202)
• Youth Suicide(p. 202)
• Do Children Commit Suicide?(p. 206)
• Suicide Among Elderly Persons(p. 207)
• The Lethality of Suicide Attempts in Later Adult Years(p. 208)
• Preventing Suicide in Later Adult Years(p. 208)
• Suicide Among Ethnic and Racial Minorities(p. 209)
• Suicide Risk for War Combatants and Veterans(p. 211)
• High-Risk Situations for Suicide(p. 212)
• Gender and Suicide(p. 213)
• Balancing Individual and Cultural Influences on Suicide(p. 214)
• Some Cultural Meanings of Suicide(p. 214)
• Suicide as Sinful(p. 214)
• Suicide as Criminal(p. 216)
• Suicide as Weakness or Madness(p. 216)
• Suicide as "The Great Death"(p. 217)
• Suicide as a Rational Alternative(p. 217)
• A Powerful Sociological Theory of Suicide(p. 218)
• The Importance of Social Integration(p. 218)
• Four Types of Suicide(p. 219)
• Some Individual Meanings of Suicide(p. 219)
• Suicide for Reunion(p. 220)
• Suicide for Rest and Refuge(p. 220)
• Suicide for Revenge(p. 220)
• Suicide as the Penalty for Failure(p. 221)
• Suicide as a Mistake(p. 222)
• A Psychoanalytical Approach to Suicide(p. 223)
• The Descent Toward Suicide(p. 223)
• Facts, Myths, and Guidelines(p. 224)
• Popular Myths about Suicide(p. 224)
• Suicide Prevention(p. 225)
• Individual Guidelines to Suicide Prevention(p. 225)
• Systematic Approaches to Suicide Prevention(p. 226)
• Three Emerging Challenges(p. 227)
• Summary(p. 228)
• 8 Violent Death: Murder, Terrorism, Genocide, Disaster, and Accident(p. 233)
• Murder(p. 236)
• Murder: The Statistical Picture(p. 236)
• Patterns of Murder in the United States(p. 237)
• Young Men with Guns(p. 240)
• School Shootings(p. 241)
• Mass and Serial Killers: Who Are They and Why Do They Do It?(p. 242)
• Political Murder: Assassination in the United States(p. 244)
• Terrorism(p. 246)
• Terrorism in History(p. 246)
• Twentieth Century Terrorism and Genocide(p. 250)
• Twenty-First Century Terrorism and Genocide(p. 253)
• World Trade Center Attacks(p. 253)
• Immediate Responses to the Loss and Trauma(p. 254)
• Later Responses(p. 255)
• The Darfur Genocide(p. 257)
• Accident and Disaster(p. 258)
• Accidents(p. 259)
• Natural Disasters(p. 262)
• Summary(p. 262)
• 9 Euthanasia, Assisted Death, Abortion, and the Right to Die(p. 267)
• "I Swear by Apollo the Physician": What Happened to the Hippocratic Oath?(p. 271)
• Key Terms and Concepts(p. 272)
• Nazi "Euthanasia"(p. 274)
• The Black Stork(p. 274)
• The Ventilator and the Slippery Slope(p. 276)
• Our Changing Attitudes Toward A Right to Die(p. 277)
• The Right-to-Die Dilemma: Case Examples(p. 279)
• The Ethics of Withdrawing Treatment: The Landmark Quinlan Case(p. 279)
• "It's over, Debbie": Compassion or Murder?(p. 281)
• An Arrow Through the Physician's Armor(p. 282)
• A Supreme Court Ruling: The Nancy Cruzan Case(p. 283)
• Terri Schiavo: Who Decides?(p. 285)
• The Ordeal Begins(p. 285)
• Comments I(p. 286)
• The Public Controversy(p. 287)
• Comments II(p. 289)
• Dr. Kevorkian and the Assisted-Suicide Movement(p. 289)
• Assisted Death in the Kevorkian Manner(p. 290)
• Kevorkian's Agenda(p. 290)
• Kevorkian's Method(p. 291)
• Evaluating Kevorkian's Approach(p. 291)
• The Netherlands: A Social Experiment Watched Closely by the World(p. 293)
• Australia: Yes, and Then No(p. 295)
• Assisted Death in the United States(p. 295)
• Compassion and Choices(p. 295)
• The Oregon Death Dignity Act(p. 296)
• Abortion(p. 298)
• Basic Facts about Abortion(p. 298)
• Difficult Issues and Questions(p. 299)
• Summary(p. 300)
• 10 Death in the World of Childhood(p. 305)
• Respecting the Child's Concern and Curiosity(p. 306)
• Adult Assumptions About Children and Death(p. 308)
• Children Do Think About Death(p. 309)
• Early Experiences with Death in Childhood(p. 309)
• Death in the Songs and Games of Childhood(p. 312)
• Research and Clinical Evidence(p. 313)
• Research Case Histories(p. 314)
• Reflections and Questions(p. 318)
• Concepts of Death: Developing Through Experience(p. 321)
• "Auntie Death's" Pioneering Study(p. 321)
• Evaluating Nagy's Contributions(p. 323)
• Are Concepts of Death Related to Cognitive Level, Gender, and Social Class?(p. 323)
• Does Anxiety Influence Children's Thoughts About Death?(p. 323)
• Cultural Influences on Children's Concepts of Death(p. 324)
• Do Imaginary Friends Die?(p. 325)
• How do Children Cope with Bereavement?(p. 327)
• A Death in the Family: Effects on the Child(p. 327)
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Following a Violent Death(p. 329)
• Long-Term Effects of Childhood Bereavement(p. 330)
• Helping Children Cope with Bereavement(p. 331)
• The Dying Child(p. 333)
• Care of the Dying Child(p. 335)
• Siblings of the Dying Child(p. 336)
• The Stress of Working with Dying Children(p. 337)
• Sharing the Child's Death Concerns: A Few Guidelines(p. 338)
• The "Right" to Decide: Should the Child's Voice Be Heard?(p. 339)
• Summary(p. 340)
• 11 Bereavement, Grief, and Mourning(p. 345)
• Some Responses to Loss(p. 346)
• Defining Our Terms: Bereavement, Grief, Mourning(p. 348)
• Bereavement: An Objective Fact(p. 348)
• Grief: A Painful Response(p. 348)
• Mourning: A Signal of Distress(p. 351)
• Theoretical Perspectives on Grief(p. 356)
• Types of Grief(p. 356)
• Normal and Complicated Grief(p. 356)
• Anticipatory Grief(p. 357)
• Resolved and Unresolved Grief(p. 357)
• Hidden and Disenfranchised Grief(p. 358)
• Theories of Grief(p. 359)
• The Grief-Work Theory(p. 359)
• Other Theoretical Approaches to Understanding Grief(p. 362)
• How Do People Recover from Grief?(p. 364)
• When a Husband or Wife Dies(p. 364)
• The Family That Has Lost a Child(p. 370)
• Bereavement in Later Life(p. 372)
• Sorrow upon Sorrow, Loss upon Loss(p. 373)
• Are Bereaved People at Higher Risk for Death?(p. 374)
• Differential Mortality Risk: The Statistical Pattern(p. 374)
• Who is Most at Risk?(p. 374)
• What are the Leading Causes of Death Among the Bereaved?(p. 374)
• How Well do We Support the Bereaved?(p. 374)
• American Society's Discomfort with Grief and Mourning(p. 375)
• Meaningful Help for Bereaved People(p. 376)
• Widow to Widow: The Phyllis Silverman Interview(p. 376)
• Helpful and Unhelpful Responses to the Bereaved Person(p. 378)
• Professional Help: When Is It Needed?(p. 378)
• Widows in Third World Nations(p. 379)
• Summary(p. 380)
• 12 The Funeral Process(p. 387)
• A Sampler of Responses to The Dead(p. 388)
• What do Funerals Mean to Us?(p. 391)
• From Dead Body to Living Memory: A Process Approach(p. 393)
• Common Elements of the Funeral Process(p. 393)
• The Funeral Service(p. 399)
• Memorializing the Deceased(p. 400)
• Getting on with Life(p. 400)
• Making Death "Legal"(p. 401)
• Establishing the Facts of Death(p. 401)
• What Does the Funeral Process Accomplish?(p. 402)
• When Great People Die(p. 402)
• Balancing the Claims of the Living and the Dead(p. 406)
• Memories of Our People: Cemeteries in the United States(p. 408)
• The Neighborhood Cemetery(p. 409)
• Ethnic Cemeteries in the United States(p. 409)
• The Place of the Dead in Society: Yesterday and Today(p. 412)
• When are the Dead Important to the Living?(p. 412)
• American Memory and the Casualties of War and Terrorism(p. 414)
• Who "Owns" Human Remains?(p. 416)
• "You Were the Best Dog Ever": The Pet Cemetery(p. 417)
• The Funeral Director's Perspective(p. 418)
• Improving the Funeral Process(p. 420)
• Alternative Funerals, The Memorial Society Option(p. 420)
• Green Funerals(p. 421)
• Virtual Memorials(p. 421)
• Spontaneous Memorialization in Response to Violent Death(p. 422)
• Integrity and Abuse in the Funeral and Memorial Process(p. 423)
• Summary(p. 424)
• 13 Do We Survive Death?(p. 429)
• Concept of Survival in Historical Perspective(p. 431)
• Key Points(p. 435)
• The Journey of the Dead(p. 436)
• Heavens and Hells(p. 438)
• The Desert Religions and Their One God(p. 438)
• Jewish Survival Belief in the Ancient World(p. 438)
• Heaven and Hell for Christians(p. 439)
• Islamic Paradise and Jahannam(p. 440)
• Science Rocks the Boat(p. 441)
• What Other People Believe(p. 442)
• Can Survival Be Proved?(p. 444)
• Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for Survival?(p. 444)
• Evidence Favoring the NDE as Proof of Survival(p. 444)
• Biomedical Attempts to Verify NDE Phenomena(p. 446)
• Eliminating other Explanations(p. 447)
• The Case Against the NDE as Proof of Survival(p. 447)
• Mystical, Depersonalization, and Hyperalertness Responses to Crisis(p. 448)
• Why Do People Not Have NDEs? An Alternative Explanation(p. 448)
• Are NDEs Hallucinations?(p. 449)
• NDEs as Exercises in Religious Imagination?(p. 450)
• What has been Learned from NDERs?(p. 450)
• The Dead as Evidence for Survival(p. 451)
• Deathbed Escorts: Safe Conduct to the Other World(p. 452)
• Communicating with the Dead: The Medium and the Channeler(p. 453)
• When Spiritism Was in Flower(p. 453)
• Channeling and Past Life Regression(p. 454)
• Ghosts(p. 454)
• The Ghost Dance: A Peaceful Vision Becomes a Tragedy(p. 456)
• Reincarnation(p. 457)
• Should We Survive Death?(p. 458)
• But What Kind of Survival?(p. 459)
• Assisted and Symbolic Survival(p. 461)
• Symbolic Immortality(p. 461)
• Assisted Immortality(p. 462)
• The Suicide-Survival Connection(p. 464)
• Summary(p. 465)
• 14 How Can We Help? Caregiving and death education(p. 471)
• "Compassionate Fatigue": Burnout and the Health Care Provider(p. 474)
• Caregivers in Death-Salient Situations(p. 475)
• Staff Burnout: What Effects on Patients?(p. 476)
• How Can We Protect Ourselves from Burnout?(p. 477)
• Death Educators and Counselors: The "Border Patrol"(p. 478)
• Death Education in Historical Perspective(p. 478)
• From Ancient Times(p. 478)
• The Medieval Heritage(p. 480)
• Death Education and Counseling: The Current Scene(p. 482)
• SimMan: An Interview with Beatrice Kastenbaum(p. 484)
• Counseling and the Counselors(p. 485)
• Characteristics of Professionals in the Death System(p. 485)
• Counseling and Psychotherapy(p. 486)
• How We all Can Help(p. 486)
• Summary(p. 488)
• 15 Good Life, Good Death? Trying to make sense of it all(p. 493)
• Three Paths to Death(p. 496)
• A Father Dies: A Mission Begins(p. 497)
• A Shift in the Meaning of Life and Death?(p. 499)
• Horrendous Death(p. 501)
• The Golden Rule Revisited(p. 502)
• Are We Live or on Tape? The Life-and-Death Challenges of Virtual Reality(p. 504)
• Utopia: A Better Death in a Better Place?(p. 506)
• Death in Utopia(p. 508)
• A Better Death in a Better Place?(p. 509)
• "The Good Death": Fantasy or Reality?(p. 510)
• Extinction: Death of Life or Death of Death?(p. 513)
• St. Paul's Cathedral, 1623(p. 513)
• The Death of Species(p. 515)
• From Good Life to Good Death: A Personal Statement(p. 517)
• Summary(p. 518)
• Index(p. 523)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Bob Kastenbaum's exploits as skating messenger apparently qualified him to become editor of two community newspapers, an eccentric career trajectory that somehow led to a graduate scholarship in philosophy and a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Southern California (1959). He was most interested in fields of psychological study that barely existed at the time: lifespan development and aging, time perspective, creativity, and death and dying. Kastenbaum became part of an emerging cadre that overcame the prevailing neglect and resistance to these issues. He worked in varied settings as clinician, researcher, activist, hospital administrator, educator, and author. The innovative programs he introduced into a geriatric hospital and his article, "The Reluctant Therapist" have been credited with preparing the way for increased attention to the needs and potentials of vulnerable elders and terminally ill people. With Dick Kalish, he founded Omega , the first peer-reviewed journal focused on death-related issues. Kastenbaum taught the first regularly-scheduled university course on death and dying and came up with the first textbook ( Death, Society, & Human Experience , 1977). He also established the first university-based educational and research center on death and dying (Wayne State University, 1966). His other books include The Psychology of Death (1972, 1990, 2000); Dorian, Graying: Is Youth the Only Thing Worth Having? (1995), and On Our Way. The Final Passage Through Life and Death (2004). He has also served as editor of the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, (2993) and two previous encyclopedias. In the public sphere he has served as a co-founder of The National Caucus on Black Aging, consultant to the United States Senate Special Subcommittee on Aging, and participant in developing the Veterans Administration's geriatric research and educational centers, and the landmark National Hospice Demonstration Project. Kastenbaum lives in Tempe, Arizona with Bunny (wife), Angel (The Incredible Leaping Dog), enhanced by Pumpkin and Snowflake in the cat department. Along with his continuing research interests, Kastenbaum has been writing book and verse for musicals and operas. He notes that nobody has died in the two most recently premiered operas ( Closing Time; American Gothic , music by Kenneth LaFave), but cannot make any such promises about the next opera.