week 7 blog - chapter 14

Chapter fourteen is about Death and Dying.  The fear of dying is normal but there are specific fears that people express (p.378).  Fear of pain and suffering is common.  So is fear of the unknown.  Death is not understood and can be hard to make sense of.  Fear of nonexistence is the fear of ceasing to exist after death.  Fear of eternal punishment “is shared among nonreligious as well as religious people” (p.378).  Fear of loss of control is felt because it can be very frightening to not be able to control life situations.  Fear of what will become of loved ones is also a common fear.  Not everyone will feel all of these fears because the experience of death can be different for each of us. 

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has theories of the process of dying.  Stage one is denial and shock.  This reaction is “necessary to give us time to come to terms with the reality of the impending death” (p. 380).  Stage two is anger.  Stage three is bargaining which is “an attempt to postpone the inevitable” (p.380).  Stage four is depression which happens when the person “can no longer deny an illness because of its advancing symptoms, a profound sense of loss is experienced” (p.380).  The last stage, five, is acceptance.  One patient said “The struggle for survival is over and the dying person seems to be taking a final rest before the long journey” (p.381). 

Fearing death is common and the theories of the process of dying are normal to feel.  Hopefully none of us will have to go through these things any time soon.