OBJECTIVE 11-8
Death and Dying
Death and Dying
Most of us will suffer and cope with the
deaths of relatives and friends.
Usually, the most difficult separation is
from one's spouse
- A loss suffered five times more women
than men
Expected deaths are much more shortlived than sudden deaths, such as the
death of a child.
Grief is especially severe when the death of a loved one
comes suddenly and before its expected time on the
social clock.
The normal range of reactions to a loved one's death is
wider than most suppose.
- Some cultures encourage public weeping and wailing,
others hide grief.
Those who express the strongest grief immediately do
not purge their grief more quickly.
For most people, bereavement therapy and other coping
methods do little to help the adjustment to deaths.
Terminally
Ill people do not go through predictable
stages, such as denial, anger, etc.

AIDS has left countless grief-stricken partners
experiencing bereavement, as well as millions of
orphaned
children.
- AIDS so often strikes down people in midlife and
younger
In 2004, the disease killed more than 3 million people
worldwide.
One study, following more than 1 million Danes over the
last half of the twentieth century, found that more than
17,000 people had suffered the death of a child under
18.
Death is inevitable, and affects every individual
differently, regardless of outward expressions of
emotions towards it.