Lecture 1: Death and dying in contemporary society

Transcription

1 Lecture 1: Death and dying in contemporary society Agenda: a) Investigate State of Death and Dying Today b) Investigate Historical Perspective c) Debate / Discuss d) Video presentation Beyond the Grave e) Discuss Phenomenological Journaling, Driver and Field Trip handouts (Fill out RAQ) 1

2 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) 2

3 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Why do we need to think about death? 2

4 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Why do we need to think about death? 2

5 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Why do we need to think about death? Do we? 2

6 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Why do we need to think about death? Do we? 2

7 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Why do we need to think about death? Do we? Do you buy the notion of how we die reflects on how we live? 2

8 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Why do we need to think about death? Do we? Do you buy the notion of how we die reflects on how we live? Who would like to live forever? 2

9 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) 3

10 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Fear of dying - short life expectancy? 3

11 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Fear of dying - short life expectancy? 3

12 First Article Reflections (Kastenbaum - As We think About Death) Fear of dying - short life expectancy? Okay - let s jump into some history! 3

13 Development of Current Attitudes to Death and Dying

14 Development of Current Attitudes to Death and Dying Setting a perspective:

15 Development of Current Attitudes to Death and Dying Setting a perspective:

16 Development of Current Attitudes to Death and Dying Setting a perspective: Illich states: Image of death determines the prevalent concept of health

17 Development of Current Attitudes to Death and Dying Setting a perspective: Illich states: Image of death determines the prevalent concept of health

18 Development of Current Attitudes to Death and Dying Setting a perspective: Illich states: Image of death determines the prevalent concept of health So what?

19 Phases and Stages Stage 1: Dance of the Dead 15th century Prior to the 15th century death in hands of god (death is grim) During the 15th century move toward becoming part of life (natural event) Readiness for societal change

20 Stage II: Dance of Death 16th - 17th century Dance represents a change from death (being) a transition into the next world toward death accentuating (being) put on this life

21 Stage II: Dance of Death 16th - 17th century Dance represents a change from death (being) a transition into the next world toward death accentuating (being) put on this life

22 Dance of Death (contd) The individual faces death alone (freedom to find personal meaning) However, death eventually, became an adversary frightening to face alone. Begin to see life prolonging attitudes; whereas in earlier medieval times a doctor /healer would not attempt to prolong life* Folk and superstitious practices, then arose and were employed to ensure a good death By end of 17th century corpses were no longer sacred.

23 Stage III: Bourgeois death 17th - 18th century Industrial revolution creates employment and wealth Those who can afford it, now pay to keep death away Health of a nation becomes economic management (an overall policy of government) Families begin to uphold ethics of good health Middle class employs doctors and society begins to give them the power to tell when death will strike

24 Stage III: Bourgeois death 17th - 18th century Industrial revolution creates employment and wealth Those who can afford it, now pay to keep death away Health of a nation becomes economic management (an overall policy of government) Families begin to uphold ethics of good health Middle class employs doctors and society begins to give them the power to tell when death will strike Death is an untimely event for those who are not both healthy and old

25 Stage III: Bourgeois death 17th - 18th century Industrial revolution creates employment and wealth Those who can afford it, now pay to keep death away Health of a nation becomes economic management (an overall policy of government) Families begin to uphold ethics of good health Middle class employs doctors and society begins to give them the power to tell when death will strike Death is an untimely event for those who are not both healthy and old

26 Stage III: Bourgeois death 17th - 18th century Industrial revolution creates employment and wealth Those who can afford it, now pay to keep death away Health of a nation becomes economic management (an overall policy of government) Forerunner to medical care Families begin to uphold ethics of good health Middle class employs doctors and society begins to give them the power to tell when death will strike Death is an untimely event for those who are not both healthy and old

27 Stage IV: Clinical Death 19th century Death is a product of disease certified by the doctor Rise of the scientific doctor. Control of disease = control over death?

28 Stage V: Health as a Commodity 20th century Doctor in a struggle with death Society deems it to be a civil rite (prolong life) People eventually lose their spiritual capacity to deal with death

29 Stage VI: Death in Intensive Care middle of 20th century Critical condition in ICU Individual is protected against death by modern medicine Stage 7 = Social Death (professionalizaton of death rituals) We no longer can set scene for our own death (death rituals are medicalized) Death seen as failure for both doctors and nurses Preoccupation with living has repressed any meaningful preparation and acceptance of death Lose connection with understanding life

30 Stage VI: Death in Intensive Care middle of 20th century Critical condition in ICU Individual is protected against death by modern medicine Stage 7 = Social Death (professionalizaton of death rituals) We no longer can set scene for our own death (death rituals are medicalized) Death seen as failure for both doctors and nurses Preoccupation with living has repressed any meaningful preparation and acceptance of death Lose connection with understanding life

31 Stage VI: Death in Intensive Care middle of 20th century Critical condition in ICU Individual is protected against death by modern medicine We no longer can set scene for our own death (death rituals are medicalized) Death seen as failure for both doctors and nurses Stage 7 = Social Death (professionalizaton of death rituals) Death denying culture All too easy - death and dying not a family affair Preoccupation with living has repressed any meaningful preparation and acceptance of death Lose connection with understanding life

32 Stage VI: Death in Intensive Care middle of 20th century Critical condition in ICU Individual is protected against death by modern medicine We no longer can set scene for our own death (death rituals are medicalized) Death seen as failure for both doctors and nurses Stage 7 = Social Death (professionalizaton of death rituals) Death denying culture All too easy - death and dying not a family affair Preoccupation with living has repressed any meaningful preparation and acceptance of death Lose connection with understanding life

33 Stage VI: Death in Intensive Care middle of 20th century Critical condition in ICU Individual is protected against death by modern medicine We no longer can set scene for our own death (death rituals are medicalized) Death seen as failure for both doctors and nurses Stage 7 = Social Death (professionalizaton of death rituals) Death denying culture All too easy - death and dying not a family affair Preoccupation with living has repressed any meaningful preparation and acceptance of death Lose connection with understanding life OR...

34 Are we moving toward... A... Stage 8 Holistic concepts? Understanding death as a rite of passage?

35 Are we moving toward... A... Stage 8 Holistic concepts? Understanding death as a rite of passage?

36 What does stage 8 look like? A return to holistic care Finding meaning in life and death Taking responsibilities for our death / dying rituals

37 What does stage 8 look like? A return to holistic care Finding meaning in life and death Taking responsibilities for our death / dying rituals

38 Rituals in other Societies?

39 Rituals in other Societies?

40 Or are we stuck at Level 7 in the West? As We Think About Death... Are we ready to embrace something new?

41 The Crux of Article 2! The West is frequently described as a death-denying society. Numerous scholars have observed that recent generations of North Americans lack the firsthand familiarity with death and dying that our ancestors had. Meanwhile, our popular media and many of our cultural mediums appear to have an obsessive fascination with death, dying, and the dead. Our television programming, movies, songs, the print media, games, jokes, and even recreational activities are fraught with thanatological content. Check this out!

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44 The Crux (contd)

45 The Crux (contd) Is it that:

46 The Crux (contd) Is it that: We are not a death denying culture?

47 The Crux (contd) Is it that: We are not a death denying culture? or

48 The Crux (contd) Is it that: We are not a death denying culture? or We are a death denying culture, but our insulation from death causes us to crave some degree of information and insight concerning death, and we feed that craving through popular-culture depictions of death and dying.

49 The Crux (contd) Is it that: We are not a death denying culture? or We are a death denying culture, but our insulation from death causes us to crave some degree of information and insight concerning death, and we feed that craving through popular-culture depictions of death and dying. or

50 The Crux (contd) Is it that: We are not a death denying culture? or We are a death denying culture, but our insulation from death causes us to crave some degree of information and insight concerning death, and we feed that craving through popular-culture depictions of death and dying. or Again we are death denying culture, but through displacement we socially neutralize our death anxiety?

51 The Crux (contd)

52 The Crux (contd) So what do folks think?

53 The Crux (contd) So what do folks think?

54 The Crux (contd) So what do folks think? Or is there an increasing willingness to listen and communicate about death and dying, and loss (Kastenbaum, pg. 9).

55 The Crux (contd) So what do folks think? Or is there an increasing willingness to listen and communicate about death and dying, and loss (Kastenbaum, pg. 9).

56 The act of neutralization Reconceptualizes death into a form that stimulates something other than primordial terror. These phenomena may be considered fascinating / entertaining, depending on the social context (i.e., visit to Elvis Presley s grave). Through detachment, (i.e., horror movies, video games) suspend belief about death. Enjoyment of this type of humor / entertainment per se requires us to laugh at our own mortality. Ultimately, North American folk may vest interest in popular culture to dilute our anxiety and desensitize death, so as digest death making it easier to live and transcend death.

57 Or is just death anxiety?

58 Let s talk about Denial? It s all about the loss - we don t want to lose those we love It s also the denial of our own death Its an adaptation What do about denial if anything?

59 Exploring the Inventories - Thoughts from interesting questions(from Kastenbaum, pg ). Inventory 1q. 2 - Most baby boomers - believe in heaven and ghosts and have ideas who are won t enter! q seriously ill spend 19hours alone q 14. less than none revived q 17. relief from pain q 19. cremation in Canada (6% in 60s, 60% today)

60 Inventory II: Let s chat about... q. 1 I believe in some form of life after death? q. 2 Death dying is in the hands of fate? q. 5 I believe that dying people should be told the truth, spared the truth, depends In thinking about my own old age, I would prefer: to die before I grow old, to live long as I can, to discover what challenges old age will bring? You have been taken to emergency room, have alz s an internal bleeding likely fatal, what do yo want from ER staff: comfort, limited rescue, all out frontal attack to keep you alive?

61 Inventory IV: Let s chat about... q 1. I would hesitate to touch someone who was dying? q 2. I would avoid talking with dying person if possible? q. 3 I feel good when I think about life after death?

62 Grave Digger: Dave Matthews Is this death denying, morbid, or is a sign of a stage 8? Or is it just... Rock -in Roll!

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65 How did that song make you feel?

66 Summing Up Looking at the past and present

67 Summing Up Stages of in the process of social death in primitive societies Looking at the past and present Initial social status Period of transition New social status Living Soul in Dead person Limbo ancestor Rituals marking biological death Rituals of mourning Rituals of social death

68 Summing Up Stages of in the process of social death in modern western societies Looking at the past and present Initial social status Period of transition New social status Living Hospital Dead Body and Soul in Limbo person patient ancestor Rituals of admission hospitalization and / or institutionalization Anticipatory grief Social death Biological death and rituals of mourning

69 Stages in the process of social death in so called primitive societies Initial social status Period of transition New social status Living person Soul in Limbo Dead ancestor Rituals marking biological death Rituals of mourning Rituals of social death

70 Stages in the process of social death in modern western societies Initial social status Period of transition New social status Living person Hospital patient Body and Soul in Limbo Dead ancestor Rituals of admission hospitalization and / or institutionalization Anticipatory grief Social death Biological death and rituals of mourning

71 Movie Time: Beyond the Grave Take notes Be prepared to Discuss

72 Continue to journal remember: 1 out of Death s Door and 2nd related to the readings or tonight s lecture, or video. Next week - meeting at Cornerstone Funeral Home. For Next Week...