Thanatology Flashcards

Motivation

The process that initiates, directs, and sustains behavior satisfying physiological or psychological needs.

Psychiatrist

A Medical Doctor who has completed specialized training in the field of mental health, such as a psychiatric residency.

Psychoanalysis

A therapy through which one seeks to bring unconscious desires into consciousness and make it possible to resolve conflicts, which usually date back to early childhood experiences.

Psychologist

Those individuals who have a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology, but are not medical doctors.

Psychology

The science of human behavior and mental processes.

Psychotherapy

Specific psychological technique used to facilitate positive changes in a person’s personality, behavior, and adjustment.

Self-Esteem

The degree of regard a person holds for himself.

Physiological Needs

The need for food, water, air, clothing and shelter

Safety / Security Need

The need to feel safe physically in your environment both from violence and hunger, as well as financially, such as the need for reasonable compensation, insurance and retirement

Belonging / Love Need

The need to feel that you are part of a group and to give and feel love and friendship

Esteem Need

The need to be a unique person with self-respect or Self-esteem and enjoy general esteem from others

The Need for Self - Actualization

To Experience purpose, meaning, and do what you were meant to do or be what you were meant to be

Acute Grief

The intense physical and emotional expression of grief occurring as the awareness increases of a loss of someone or something significant.

Attachment Theory

The model describing a tendency to make strong affectional bonds with others coming from the need for security and safety.

Bereavement

The act or event of separation or loss that results in the experience of the emotion of grief

Cognition

The study of the origins and consequences of thoughts, memories, beliefs, perceptions, explanations and other mental processes.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions

Emotions

Feelings created by brain patterns accompanied by bodily changes.

Fear

Strong emotion marked by such reactions as alarm, dread, and disquieting.

Funeral Service Psychology

The study of human behavior as related to funeral service.

Grief

An emotion or set of emotions due to a loss; an emotion brought about by separation (death).

Grief work

A set of basic tasks that must be completed for successful mourning to take place.

Mourning

Outward expression of grief; the process of adjustment and adaptation to a loss.

Personality

A relatively stable system of determining tendencies within an individual; traits that assist in explaining and predicting an individual's behavior.

Thanatology

The study of death, dying, and bereavement.

Thanatophobia

An irrational, exaggerated fear of death.

Who the person was

is determined by not only the normal titles of father, mother, spouse, son, sister, etc, but also by the roll they played in the family, such as provider, stay at home mom, care-taker, social coordinator, financial planner, shopper, cook, cleaning person, etc

The nature of the attachment

is described by Bowlby in the previous lesson, but bears reiterating. The attachment has 5 parts according to Worden:

a. The strength of the attachment - the stronger the attachment, the more intense the feelings of grief.

b. The security of the attachment - this addresses how necessary the deceased was to the survival of the bereaved. If the deceased was a third cousin, the reaction would not be as intense as the stay-at-home mom whose spouse dies, leaving her without a job, without health insurance, a minimal life insurance policy and 2 or 3 kids under the age of 10.

c. The ambivalence in the relationship - While the bereaved obviously has positive feelings about the relationship with the deceased, there may also exist negative feelings. Generally the positive feelings far outweigh the negative, but in some cases, the negative may be more than realized before the death. When the negatives outweigh the positive or if they are very close in number, the survivor often is ambivalent in the relationship and after the death has feelings of guilt, because they are happy the negative items are not around any more.

d. Conflicts with the deceased - these arguments often lead to guilt because she has unfinished business that will never be able to be addressed.

e. Dependent relationships often result in additional stresses. To think about some of these dependent relationships, think about the spouse who is dependent upon the deceased to do the laundry, pay the bills, cook the meals, clean the house, drive, etc.

How the person died

a. the suddenness of the death;

b. whether violent or traumatic;

c. multiple deaths at the same time (such as a car crash killing 3 family members);

d. preventable deaths (often caused by drunk drivers, etc.);

e. ambiguous deaths such as the deaths of soldiers overseas (this creates a conflict of emotions where the survivor does not know whether to grieve or hold out hope that the loved one will be found alive); and

f. stigmatized deaths. Some of the most common stigmatized deaths would be death by suicide, abortions, or as a result of AIDS. When this type of death occurs, there is often less social support than would have otherwise been available to the bereaved.

Historical events

what experiences the bereaved has been through in her/his past

Personality variables

such as age, gender, coping styles, attachment style, self-esteem, and assumptive world view, such as whether the bereaved has a spiritual belief in the afterlife and hope of seeing the loved one again

Social variables

- Support Availability

- Support Satisfaction

- Social Role Involvements - What roles do you play in groups?

- Religious Resources and ethnic expectations

Concurrent stresses

major life changes at or near the time of entry into grief can cause a more intense grief response. Examples would be a house fire that claimed the life of a parent as well as destroying the family home would necessitate the family to relocate and find / buy all new stuff

Extraneous Stresses

Depending upon the popularity of the deceased, the mode of death and the status of the survivors, there may be an additional mediator/factor. This would include speaking to the media/press, public acknowledgement of the death, and other factors that most deaths do not have associated with them

Who developed the Attachment Theory

John Bowlby

Affect

External expression of emotion.

Aggression

The intentional infliction of physical or psychological harm on another.

Alarm

Is defined as fear or anxiety caused by the sudden realization of danger created by the impact of the shock.

Alienation

The state of estrangement an individual feels in social settings that are viewed as foreign, unpredictable or unacceptable.

Anger

A strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism.

Anxiety

Apprehension, dread, or uneasiness similar to fear but based on an unclear threat.

Blame

To place responsibility for fault or error.

Death Anxiety

A learned emotional response to death-related phenomenon which is characterized by extreme apprehension.

Defense Mechanisms (Ego Defense Mechanisms)

An unconscious mental process used to reduce anxiety.

Denial

The defense mechanism by which a person is unable or refuses to see things as they are because such facts are threatening to the self.

Displacement

Redirecting feelings toward a person or object other than one who caused the feelings originally.

Frustration

The state of being prevented from attaining a purpose; thwarted; the blocking of the motive satisfaction by some kind of obstacle.

Grief Syndrome

A set of symptoms associated with loss.

Guilt

Blame directed toward one's self.

Numbness

The feeling of a bereaved person who has no feelings after the death of a close relative.

Panic

A strong motion characterized by sudden and extreme fear.

Projection

Attribution of one's unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to someone else.

Rationalization

Supplying a logical, rational, socially acceptable reason rather than the real reason for an action.

Reaction formation

A defensive mechanism by which people behave in a way opposite to what their true but anxiety-provoking feelings would dictate.

Regression

A defense mechanism whereby a person retreats to an earlier level of development or to an earlier, less demanding habit or situation.

Repression

Unconscious process by which memories, thoughts, or impulses are held out of awareness.

Shame

Blame that is perceived to be directed toward one’s self by others.

Shock

The reaction of the body to an event often experienced emotionally as a sudden, violent, and upsetting disturbance. A state of collapse, characterized by depressed vital signs and possibly unconsciousness as a result of circulatory failure; often accompanies hemorrhage, trauma, burns, and other serious conditions.

Sublimation

Redirection of emotional energy or unacceptable impulses to culturally or socially useful purposes.

Suppression

A conscious postponement of addressing anxieties and concerns.

Unconscious

The contents of the mind that are beyond awareness especially impulses and desires not directly known to a person.

The 4 categories of Manifestations of Grief.

-Behavior

-Physical Sensation

-Cognition

-Emotion

Lindemann

Who created the 5 characteristics of grief?

Lindemann

Who is credited for the 3 steps of grief work?

the 3 steps to griefwork

-accepting the loss

-adjusting to life without them

-forming new relationships in the world

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Who created the 5 stages of grief?

the 5 stages of grief

-denial

-anger

-bargaining

-depression

-acceptance

John Bowlby

Who developed the 4 phases of grief?

4 phases of grief

-shock and numbness

-yearning and searching

-disorganization and despair

-reorganization

Theresa Rando

Who developed the 6 R process of grief?

the 6 R process of grief

-recognize the loss

-react to the separation to the loss

-recollect and reexperience

-relinquish attachments

-readjust

-re-invest

J. William Worden

Who developed the tasks of mourning?

4 tasks of mourning

-accept reality of the loss

-work through pain of grief

-adjust to new environment w/o deceased

-emotionally relocate the deceased and move on with life

Attitude

A learned tendency to respond to people, objects, or institutions in a positive or negative way.

Ceremony

An established or prescribed procedure for a religious or other rite; the formal activities conducted on some solemn or important occasion; also known as Ritual.

Class

A social grouping in which members possess roughly equivalent culturally valued attributes and/or similar economic resources.

Committal Service

That portion of a funeral service which is conducted at the place of interment or other method of disposal of human remains which implies consignment of Deity for safekeeping.

Contemporary

Living or happening in the same period; belonging to or occurring in the present.

Cultural Assimilation

The process by which a person or group's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group.

Cultural Relativism

The emotional attitude that all cultures are equal and pertinent.

Cultural Universal

Common traits, or patterns (for living and dying) found in all cultures.

Culture

The rules, ideas, and beliefs shared by members of society of and for living and dying, which are learned directly or indirectly.

Culture Shock

The feelings of disorientation, uncertainty, and even fear that people experience when they encounter unfamiliar cultural practices.

Custom

Social behavior as dictated by the tradition of the people.

Demographic

The science of vital statistics, or of births, deaths, marriages, etc. of populations.

Diffusion

The process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society.

Direct Learning

The acquiring of the culture by a person through deliberate instruction by other members of the society; formal learning.

Discrimination

The act of making a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit.

Ethnicity

The cultural heritage or identity of a group, based on factors such as language or country of origin.

Ethnocentrism

The emotional attitude that one's own race, nation, group, or culture is superior to all others.

Folkways

Behaviors which are construed as somewhat less compulsive than mores of the same society, and do not call for a strong reaction from the society if violated.

Funeral a.k.a. Funeral Service

Rites with the body present.

Funeral Rite

Any funeral event performed in a prescribed manner.

Funeral Service Sociology

The science of social groups and their effects on funeral practices and disposition.

Funeralization

The processes involving all activities associated with the funeral rite and/or final disposition.

Indirect Learning

A process by which a person learns the norms of his or her culture by observations of others in his or her society; also known as informal learning.

Innovation

The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture through discovery or invention.

Law

A rule of action prescribed by an authority able to enforce its will.

Memorial Service

A ceremony commemorating the deceased without the body/remains present.

Memorialization

The process of preserving memories of people or events.