Chapter 16 - Dying and Bereavement
Death anxiety
feeling of anxiety or even fear of death and dying
Clinical death
lack of heartbeat and respiration
Four-component model
model for understanding grief that is based on 1) the context of the loss, (2) continuation of subjective meaning associated with loss, (3) changing representations of the lost relationship over time, and (4) the role of coping and emotion-regulation processes
Physician-assisted suicide
process in which physicians provide dying patients with a fatal dose of medication that the patient self-administers
Terror management theory
theory that addresses the issue of why people engage in certain behaviors to achieve particular psychological states based on their deeply rooted concerns about mortality
Dual process model
view of coping with bereavement that integrates loss-oriented stressors and restoration-oriented stressors
Final scenario
way for people to make their choices known about how they do and do not want their lives to end
Mourning
ways in which people express their grief
Grief work as rumination hypothesis
approach that not only rejects the necessity of grief processing for recovery from loss but also views extensive grief processing as a form of rumination that may increase distress
Hospice
approach to assisting dying people that emphasizes pain management, or palliative care, and death with dignity
Palliative care
care that is focused on providing relief from pain and other symptoms of disease at any point during the disease process
Anniversary reaction
changes in behavior related to feelings of sadness on the anniversary date of a loss
Whole-brain death
declared only when the deceased meets eight criteria, which were established in 1981
Active euthanasia
deliberate ending of someone's life
Living will
document in which a person states his or her wishes about life support and other treatments
Health care power of attorney
document in which an individual appoints someone to act as his or her agent for health care decisions
Separation distress
expression of complicated or prolonged grief disorder that includes being preoccupied with the deceased to the point that it interferes with everyday functioning, having upsetting memories of the deceased, longing and searching for the deceased, and feeling isolated following the loss
Traumatic distress
expression of complicated or prolonged grief disorder that includes disbelief about the death; mistrusting others, feeling anger, and being detachment from others as a result of the death; feeling shocked by the death; and experiencing the physical presence of the deceased
Complicated or prolonged grief disorder
expression of grief that is distinguished from depression and from normal grief in terms of separation distress and traumatic distress
Anticipatory grief
grief that is experienced during the period before an expected death occurs that supposedly serves to buffer the impact of the loss when it does come and the facilitate recovery
End-of-life issues
issues pertaining to management of the final phase of life, after-death disposition of the body and memorial services, and distribution of assets
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR)
medical order that means that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not started should one's heart and breathing stop
Passive euthanasia
practice of allowing a person to die by withholding available treatment
Euthanasia
practice of ending life for reasons of mercy
Grief work
psychological side of coming to terms with bereavement
Persistent vegetative state
situation in which a person's cortical functioning ceases while brainstem activity continues
Grief
sorrow, hurt, anger, guilt, confusion, and other feelings that arise after suffering a loss
Bereavement
state or condition caused by loss through death
Thanatology
study of death, dying, grief, bereavement, and social attitudes toward these issues
Bioethics
study of the interface between human values and technological advances in health and life sciences
