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10.6: Dying

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    308848
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    Elderly women outlive elderly men. Widowhood occurs when one's spouse dies. Widows are surviving wives and widowers are surviving husbands. One sub-discipline of gerontology is thanatology. Thanatology is the scientific study of death and dying. Thanatology informs those who provide support and counsel to the dying.

    How we define death, both our own and the death of others is very much influenced by the cultural definition of death we incorporated into our own values while growing up. It's very common for young college students to have lost a great aunt/uncle, great grandparent, or even a grandparent. It's not so common to have lost a parent, sibling, or child. Grief is the feeling of loss we experience after a death, disappointment, or tragedy. When people experience grief they are said to be in bereavement.
    Bereavement is the circumstances and conditions that accompany grief.

    Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has published work on the stages of grief as it relates to death. She found that people who are dying or those who have loved ones dying go through a series of stages in the grieving process. The first stage is denial, a sense that it didn't happen. The second stage is anger. Grievers ask "Why me?" or state that they hate God for what has happened. Bargaining is the third stage. Grievers say they will be better people if they are healed. Depression is a sense that all is lost or why even try. The last stage is acceptance. This is the stage where grievers have processed the loss and are ready to move on (www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/006105.html). Everyone grieves and we all grieve in our own ways. Most people experience all the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, but there exists some variability in how individuals cycle through Kübler-Ross’ stages.


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