Thanatology

• Hypervisability of Death 


  can provide a means to make sense of death, engage with our fears and questions about death
• Death in Animated Films

  Children are shielded from death intention to protect them highlight themes of loss, separation and death, serve pedagogic function: teach lessons
• Analyzing Death in Animated Films


  may mask the permanence and irreversibility of death, different emotional impact for death of villain and hero, shows meaning-making and continuing bonds
• Teachable Moments


  How a child responds, ask questions about their understanding, ask how characters are feeling, fill in blanks with honest answers
• Dead Celebrities as Commodities

  avoid social death, concerns surrounding the ethics of the use of dead celebrities image as profit, ex. Micheal Jackson
• True Crime 


  extremely popular genre, people make sense of crime, can be safer way for people to engage in fears
• Penfold Mounce (2018), Parables of Death 


  Timely, Tragic, Tragic Foolish, Tragic Heroic
• Timely 


  celebrities who died in old age, sad not tragic, 'life well lived', ex. Betty White
• Tragic Foolish 


  Variation of tragic, used to create lessons about values of society, ex. Anna Nicole Smith
• Tragic


  deaths that serve as 'cautionary tale', 'life cut short', loss of future talent, ex. Jimi Hendrix (27)
• Tragic Heroic


  deaths that occur due to heroic, ground-breaking action, 'aspirational lives', ex. shuttle explosion
• Universality 


  death is universal, all living things die, death is inevitable
• Irreversibility 


  death is final and permanent
• Non-Functionality 


  death causes the body to cease function
• Causality 


  understanding that something has to cause death
• Non-Corporal Continuation 


  connection to the deceased continues after death
• Magical Thinking 


  belief that your thoughts and behaviour can influence reality, lead to feelings of guilt, responsible for events out of their control
• Dying Trajectory 


  The course that a person follows as they die, may be slow or sudden
• Closed Awareness


  The person who is dying does not realize they are dying, family/caregivers may be aware
• Suspected Awareness 


  The dying person suspects that they have not has all the information about their situation
• Mutual Pretense


  relevant information is known by all parties, but not shared between them
• Open Awareness 


  All parties are aware of the situation, openly willing to discuss dying and death
• Stages of Coping

  Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance
• Critiques of the Stages Model

  A generalization, not how everyone should cope, coping is not linear, different people cope differently
• Death Anxiety 


  Ernest Becker (1973), unique ability to be aware of mortality, awareness causes anxiety, significant motivating factor in life, death presents a challenge to meaning
• Bereavement


  The experience of grief following the death of a loved one
• Grief 


  intense suffering, sadness experienced following a loss
• Mourning


  public display of grief that conforms to social and cultural norms, ex. wearing black at a funeral
• Factors Affecting Grief

  Type of relationship, death trajectory, support, developmental stage
• Intuitive Grievers


  focus on feelings/emotions, feelings match outward expression, desire to talk through experiences
• Instrumental Grievers 


  focused on thinking, feelings may not be outwardly expressed, dealing differently
• Identity Foreclosure 


  a change in ones social status, termination of ones identity, we mourn the loss of the other and part of ourselves
• Prolonged Grief Disorder 


  lasts longer than social norms, causes distress
• Pathways Model


  Figure 8 model, each person grieves differently, doesn't have beginning or end, not linear
• Dual Process Model


  Not linear, people between loss-oriented activities and restoration activities, oscillation in the middle
• First Responders


  emergency medical technicians, paramedics, police, firefighters
• Health Care Workers


  Physicians, nurses, social workers, personal support workers (PSW)
• Death Care Workers 


  Medical examiners, funeral workers, cemetery workers, death doulas
• Compassion Satisfaction


  feeling good from providing care for others, joy from helping others
• Primary Trauma 


  direct exposure to traumatic events