Journal articles on the topic 'Robert Kastenbaum'

This article focuses on Robert Kastenbaum's seminal concept of the societal death system. Beginning with conflicting claims that America is a death-denying society versus a death-accepting society, the article reports Kastenbaum's definition and description of the death system in American society and sets forth the seven functions and five elements or components of that death system. Next, the article notes Kastenbaum's further claim that “All cultures, past and present, have had death systems.” Finally, two basic lessons are drawn from the foregoing: (1) Kastenbaum's concept of the death system provides a robust framework to explain the networks societies interpose between their members and death, focusing in particular on a more or less integrated and dynamic network within American society whose functions and components are not difficult to recognize in the ways in which they organize many aspects of the lives of individuals who live within that society; and (2) It is preposterous to assert without qualification that America is a death-denying society when there are so many activities and components within that society that are in whole or in part related to death, i.e., although it may be true that many aspects of the contemporary American death system appear to seek to remove death from the mainstream of life, there is ample evidence to indicate that American society as a whole and individuals within that society both accept and deny death simultaneously.

End-of-life experiences go by various terms, including near-death experiences (NDEs), deathbed visions, deathbed phenomena, deathbed coincidences, and nearing death awareness. Deathbed escorts is the term applied to the vision of deceased family members or friends who inform the dying person that they will be accompanied in the transition from life. In this article, I examine the subject of NDEs and deathbed escorts, starting with the rich body of work provided by Robert and Beatrice Kastenbaum. A subject of some interest to Robert Kastenbaum, he explored this frontier in his many writings on dying, death, and bereavement. Ever the pioneer and having made the ultimate transition, he may yet be exploring new frontiers.

The article sheds light on the way the author's scientific views and endeavors in the field of dying, death, and bereavement over 40 years in Germany have been influenced by the work of Robert Kastenbaum. Reconstructing the passage of time, the early years (i.e., the second half of the 1970s), a middle period (i.e., the 1980s and 1990s), and the later years (i.e., from the turn of the century to the present) are outlined. In an anecdotic fashion, two personal encounters with R. Kastenbaum are reported. The article concludes with showing/consensus and dissention in various respects and finally recounts the author's admiration for this outstanding scholar.

RÉSUMÉCe livre se veut un exposé sur l'âge et le vieillissement et sur les relations au sein des générations qui vivent le vieillissement et font face à la mort. L'ensemble semble se présente sous forme de textes de dramaturgic simples accompagnés de commentaires. Le livre comprent un prologue, des commentaires, les textes et un épilogue. Les textes de dramaturgie occupent l'espace principal du livre; toutefois, les autres sections expliquent au lecteur les intentions de l'auteur et soulignent leur utilité en tant qu'instrument éducatif gérontologique ou thanatologique ou exercice psychodramatique. Les textes se concentrent sur des types représentatifs et leurs relations comme personnages plutôt que sur une intrigue. Règle générale, le vieillissement est présenté comme un processus inévitable se produisant chez tous les sujets. Une amélioration des textes pourrait se faire en étoffant leur puissance suggestive et leur caractère humain pour les utiliser sur scène.

This article is a review of Robert Kastenbaum's 1979 essay entitled “Healthy dying: A paradoxical quest continues.” It begins with a summary of the arguments and challenges in the original essay. This is followed by an evaluation of his original claims in the light of contemporary insights in modern public health history and empirical studies of near-death experiences and deathbed visions. The recent development of health promotion in palliative care is described in relation to these developments and Kastenbaum's early question about the paradoxical quest for health while dying is again posed against this background. Given our modern understanding of “health” in current global health policy and debates, it is argued that “healthy dying” is no paradox. Instead, the pursuit of health at the end of life represents a realistic modern desire to compress morbidity, minimize unnecessary suffering, and enhance quality of life at this time.

Este artigo discute os principais temas e pesquisas na área da Tanatologia, estudos sobre a morte e o morrer. São apresentados os autores pioneiros que escreveram as primeiras obras de sistematização da Tanatologia entre os quais: Herman Feifel, Robert Kastenbaum e Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, e os principais temas de estudo: luto, violência e guerra, a morte e a TV, cuidados a pacientes gravemente enfermos, além da formação de profissionais da área de saúde e educação para lidar com pessoas vivendo situações de perdas e morte. São feitas propostas de estudos para o futuro desenvolvimento da Tanatologia em nosso país.

Robert Kastenbaum posits that functional aging results in the overadaptation to our own routines and expectations, producing “hyperhabituation,” mental stagnation, and novaphobic response orientations. This article examines the promise and implications of this notion for two areas of environment-aging research: psychological control and environmental comprehension. Possible causal and mediating links between control and habituation are considered, as well as the impact of habituation on environmental perception, cognition, and appraisal. Personal and situational characteristics of older people likely to be at risk for habituated responses are suggested. The article also speculates about individually- and environmentally-targeted interventions which might prevent and/or ameliorate tendencies toward hyperhabituated responses among older people who reside in highly ritualized and constant environments such as long-term care institutions. Interventions subject to future evaluations include modifications for the social, physical, and policy milieux and desensitization of novaphobic responses.

Robert Kastenbaum was a man who helped reintroduce issues related to death, dying, and bereavement to academic, clinical, and general discourse. This article, devoted to an encounter with the observance of mourning custom and ritual in the Jewish tradition, continues the dialogue in this journal that Bob founded. The article utilizes the Two-Track Model of Bereavement to address the Jewish tradition's structuring of the loss experience. After a brief introduction, I present a schematic presentation of some of the issues operant in grief and mourning for the believer. This is followed by two responses to loss that portray the pain of loss in the tradition. The article goes on to consider the Jewish time cycle of response to loss—from preburial Aninut, to Shiva, the first week, to Shloshim, the first month, to Shanah, the first year, to the expectations for encounters across the life cycle. The Yizkor and Kaddish are also considered. In the Jewish tradition, alongside attention to what level of functioning to require of the bereaved, there are lifelong opportunities to rework and maintain connection to the memories, associations, narratives, and experiences that comprise the psychological organization of the continuing bond and relationship to the deceased.

RÉSUMÉCes deux livres sont une contribution des sciences humaines, et plus particulièrement des domaines de l'histoire, de la littèrature et de la philosophie, à la recherche sur l'âge et le vieillissement. Le premier ouvrage, qui couvre de nombreux sujets et disciplines, offre une vue d'ensemble très large sur l'ètat de la question. Le second ouvrage, plus spécialisé, traite de la nature et du rôle des métaphores dans la recherche sur le vieillissement. Les auteurs analysent les métaphores contenues dans l'histoire culturelle, dans la littérature et les arts, dans la biologie et la gériatrie. Les deux ouvrages mettent l'accent sur une méthodologie herméneutique, des méthodes qualitatives et une vision historique du vieillissement. Ils offrent également une analyse critique des principaux courants de la gérontologie positiviste et réfléchissent sur le rôle et à l'importance des sciences humaines. Les deux ouvrages fournissent une vision complexe des nombreuses facettes de l'àge et du vieillissement ainsi que des tâches et des problèmes de la gérontologie. Ils traitent enfin des questions habituellement négligées par la science positiviste concernant l'éthique, les valeurs et le rôle de la spiritualité.

The three pieces in this section introduce the Festschrift celebrating the works and influence of Omega: Journal of Death and Dying's founding editor. Robert Kastenbaum. Robert Fulton, an early Associate Editor of the Journal begins with some personal reflections on Kastenbaum. Klass and Doka then describe the nature of the Festschrift. A closing coda by Robert Kastenbaum's wife, Beatrice Kastenbaum, reminds us of the person behind the work.

This article elaborates on Robert Kastenbaum’s death system analysis by explaining social change efforts among Ecological Death Advocates (EDAs), a diverse group of designers, scientists, spiritualists, and entrepreneurs who seek to develop more environmentally sensitive and humanistic alternatives to contemporary death management practices. Drawing from online and documentary data, we highlight EDAs claims about problems with conventional death management and the solutions they propose. Specifically, EDAs challenge hyperrationalized and professionalized death management practices by advocating for more ecologically benign approaches that link past traditions with new technological innovations to better align death practices with personal and community needs. We theorize EDA reform efforts as an aspect of “death-system” politics to carve out cultural, economic, and political space for alternative end-of-life decisions that better reflect broad ecological sensibilities and changing attitudes toward death.

Scenario: You are exhausted after a long day at work and collapse in front of the television for some mindless entertainment. One of your favourite comedy shows is on. You begin to relax. You laugh a couple of times. There's a commercial break. You watch the first ad for a hardware store, giving it only half your attention. And then there's another ad, something about a father and son in a car together and then ". WOOOMPH! A truck slams into the car. The message is "Speed kills!" Or there are people playing and sunbathing on a beach, happy holidays, and then vultures descend and surround them. The message is "Slip! Slop! Slap! Don't die in the sun this summer". Or someone is shown smoking a cigarette and the caption reads : "Give up now. You'll soon stop dying for a cigarette". This might be accompanied by scenes of a post-mortem, dissections of human lungs or brain. Context Threat appeals are used frequently in health and road safety promotion. Many use the threat of death as the consequence of undesirable behaviours, for example, "Quit smoking or you'll die' (Henley and Donovan). ("Non-death threats' appeal to other consequences such as "Quit smoking or your skin will age'.) There is an implicit notion of premature death threat, although this is rarely stated explicitly. When reminded of our risk of premature death, we are reminded by extension of the ultimate inevitability of our death. An understanding of the philosophy of existentialism can help us understand why consumers may, quite reasonably, tune out, or literally switch off health promotion messages that remind them of their own death. This paper explores the effect on consumers of these mass media invocations of the fear of death, or "death threats'. Verbatim comments are included from six focus groups conducted on fear and health promotion. Groups were delineated by age (16-20 years, 21-29 years and 30-49 years), gender, and socio-economic status (blue collar/white collar) (Henley). What is existential dread? Fear is one of the primary human emotions (along with anger, sadness, love, joy and surprise) and "dread' is one of the emotion names associated with fear (Shaver et al. 1067). We do not need to learn how to feel fear. We have to learn what to fear, however. Despite the joke about death and taxes, death is uniquely inevitable. (Some people do manage to avoid taxes!) In his definitive work, Denial of Death, Becker stated his belief that knowledge of our own death is the source of 'man's peculiar and greatest anxiety' (70); it's what makes us human. Existentialists think that knowing about the inevitability of our own death can be overwhelming, arousing the worst fear imaginable, "existential dread' (Bugental 287). Existential philosophers and psychologists believe that part of this anxiety stems from the existential dread of "not being'. Discussing Heidegger's analysis of the meaning of death in Being and Time, Barrett put it this way: The point is that I may die at any moment, and therefore death is my possibility now. It is like a precipice at my feet. It is also the most extreme and absolute of my possibilities: extreme, because it is the possibility of not being and hence cuts off all other possibilities; absolute, because man can surmount all other heartbreaks, even the deaths of those he loves, but his own death puts an end to him (201). The essence of existential philosophy is this idea that we are all deeply, terribly afraid of death. Fear of death can be seen even in very young children (Anthony, The child's; Anthony, The discovery; Nagy) who express considerable anxiety about death, but quickly learn from their parents and others how to deny it (Yalom). Existential psychologists have suggested that the fear of our own death is the cause of much of our psychopathology (Yalom). Existentialists believe that the most common response to existential anxiety is to deny it, creating in oneself a 'state of forgetfulness of being' as far as possible. Weisman described three levels of denial in terminally ill patients: "first-order denial' of the facts of illness; "second-order denial' of the implications of the illness; and "third-order denial' of death itself. He noted that often a patient moves from first and second order denial into "middle knowledge' (i.e., acceptance of near death), but then relapses. Weisman remarked that this relapse is often the signal that the terminal phase has begun. This aspect of denial is a complicated factor in the complex measurement of death anxiety. When people say they are not afraid of death, who can say whether they are denying fear or truly not afraid? In either case, health promotion appeals that threaten death may not be effective, either because the fear is denied or because there is no fear. In focus groups exploring people's concepts of death (Henley 111), few people acknowledged being afraid of their own death and many specifically stated that they were not afraid of their own death. One woman voiced the universal difficulty of truly conceiving what it might be like "not to be' (Kastenbaum and Aisenberg) when she said: 'death seems like such an unrealistic proposition'. People did acknowledge fears about death, such as dying painfully, so health promotion messages that threaten these other dimensions of death anxiety may be more effective. Health promotion practitioners frequently use these related death fears. The fear of causing death, for example, is used in road safety advertisements. However, this discussion on existential fear is limited to threat appeals of death per se. Death threats in health promotion Is arousing existential dread an effective way to market healthy behaviours? At first sight, it seems logical that the threat of death would be more persuasive than lesser threats and yet it may not be the most effective approach. There is some evidence that lesser threats may be more effective for some groups of adolescents and young adults for smoking (Donovan and Leivers), and for road safety behaviours (Donovan et al.). For example, for some 18 year old males, the threat of being caught drinking and driving, of losing their driving licence and, thus, their new-found independence may be a more effective deterrent than the threat of dying in a car accident (Donovan et al.). The humiliation of being arrested and charged for drink-driving may be the most powerful persuader for adults of all ages (Bevins). For men attending the Jerusalem Centre for Impotency and Fertility, impotence was reported a more persuasive threat than death: 78% of men who were told that smoking causes impotence quit smoking, compared to 40% who quit when told that smoking causes heart attacks ("No smoking tip"). One woman in a focus group said, 'you tend to think short-term, "can I afford a $100 fine?" rather than long-term, "this is my life." If I stop to think about it, obviously I'm more afraid of dying than $100 [fine], but that's not what I think about' (Henley 95). This makes sense in the context of forgetfulness, the denial of death. We don't want to be reminded of our death so we switch off the death message. Lesser threats may be more easily internalised. Does arousing existential dread do any harm? Perhaps. Job suggested that fear arousal is likely to be effective only for specific behaviours that successfully reduce the level of fear arousal and that high-fear messages may actually increase behaviours that people employ to reduce anxiety, such as smoking and alcohol consumption. People high in anxiety are hypothesised to be hypersensitive to threats and likely to employ a restricted range of self-soothing coping behaviours to reduce negative affect (Wickramasekera and Price). Death threat appeals such as "Quit smoking or you'll die' may arouse defensive, counter-productive responses, at least in some people, because it is impossible to identify any specific behaviour that could successfully reduce the particular, unique fear of death per se. Firestone identified a number of psychological defences against death anxiety, including self-nourishing and addictive habits, such as smoking and overeating. Ironically, these same behaviours are frequently the subject of health promotion campaigns. If such campaigns arouse death anxiety in an effort to curb defensive responses to death anxiety, there clearly could be an increase rather than a decrease in those defensive responses. Arousing death anxiety might contribute to fatalistic thinking. Job described some people's defenses against very high fear, for example, "...you've got to go sometime' or "...when your number's up, your number's up'. In focus groups, people commented, 'if an accident is going to happen, it's going to happen' and 'what's the point of giving up [unhealthy behaviours] if you get run over by a bus tomorrow?' (Henley 95, 108). Rippetoe and Rogers found that fatalistic thinking occurred when subjects did not believe that the recommended behaviour would avert the threat. That is, people may realise that quitting smoking could avert lung cancer and even some causes of premature death but that nothing can avert death itself. Fatalism may be one of the most maladaptive responses because the threat is acknowledged but rendered ineffective (Rippetoe and Rogers). Social marketers can make some of their persuasive communications more effective if they are more mindful of consumers' existential fears. A sensitivity to consumers' psychological defences against existential fear may result in more effective use of threat appeals in health promotion. Mindfulness Mindful that the title of this paper itself may arouse some existential dread, I end with a comment on the existentialist alternative to denial. Existentialists advocate a state of 'mindfulness of being' or 'ontological mode' (Heidegger, quoted in Yalom 31) in which "one remains mindful of being, not only mindful of the fragility of being but mindful, too ... of one's responsibility for one's own being." (Yalom 31). The existentialist strives to be as mindful, as present in the moment, and therefore as authentic as possible. This involves the acceptance of existential anxiety as an appropriate and reasonable response to the human condition (Bugental). Some focus group participants wanted to know in advance that they were going to die, 'so you can fit things in you'd want to do and say goodbye'. Others thought it was better not to know or 'you'd start having regrets'. One person pointed out that we do know in advance: 'you know you're going to die sometime!'. This last comment was followed by a sober, almost shocked silence suggesting that, even while we are freely discussing death on one level, the full meaning of death may still elude us. As consumers of health promotion messages, we are exposed to many reminders of our finite existence. If we sit mindlessly in front of the television receiving these messages, we may feel some unresolved discomfort. People talk about looking away, or switching channels when particularly shocking ads are shown. The existentialist alternative response would be to embrace these reminders and use them to sustain a state of mindfulness. With this state of mindfulness comes a heightened sense of responsibility for one's own being. It is in this ontological mode that we are most likely to adopt the healthy behaviours recommended in health promotion messages. By hearing the death threat openly, and acting to protect ourselves from at least those causes of premature death that may lie within our control, we may be able to discover a fuller experience of what it means to be alive. References Anthony, Sylvia. The Child's Discovery of Death. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1940. Anthony, Sylvia. The Discovery of Death in Childhood and After. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Education, 1973. Barrett, W. Irrational Man, A Study in Existential Philosophy. London: Heinemann, 1958. Becker, Ernest. The Denial of Death. New York: The Free Press, 1973. Bevins, John. "Using Advertising to Sell and Promote Health and Healthy Products". Paper presented at the ACHPER Health Products and Services Marketing Seminar. Kuring-gai College, Sydney, 1987. Bugental, J. F. T. The Search for Authenticity: An Existential-analytic Approach to Psychotherapy. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1965. Donovan, Robert J., and Sue Leivers. Young Women and Smoking. Report to Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health. Perth: Donovan Research, 1988. Donovan, Robert J., Nadine Henley, Geoffrey Jalleh, and Clive Slater. Road Safety Advertising: An Empirical Study and Literature Review. Canberra: Federal Office of Road Safety, 1995. Firestone, Robert W. "Psychological Defenses against Death Anxiety." Death Anxiety Handbook: Research, Instrumentation, and Application. Series in Death Education, Aging, and Health Care. Ed. Robert A. Neimeyer. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis, 1994. 217-241. Henley, Nadine R. "Fear Arousal in Social Marketing: Death vs Non-death Threats." Doctoral Dissertation, University of Western Australia, Perth, 1997. Henley, Nadine and Robert J. Donovan. "Threat Appeals in Social Marketing: Death as a "Special Case'". International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 4.4 (1999): 300-319. Job, R. F. Soames. "Effective and Ineffective Use of Fear in Health Promotion Campaigns." American Journal of Public Health, 78 (1988): 163-167. Kastenbaum, R., and R. Aisenberg. The Psychology of Death. London: Duckworth, 1974. Nagy, Maria H. "The Child's View of Death." The Meaning of Death. Ed. Herman Feifel. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959. 79-98. "No Smoking Tip for Lovers". Daily Telegraph, (1994, September 24): p. 4. Rippetoe, P.A. and Rogers, R.W. "Effects of components of protection-motivation theory on adaptive and maladaptive coping with a health threat." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52.3 (1987): 596-604. Shaver, P., J. Schwartz, D. Kirson, and C. O'Connor. "Emotion Knowledge: Further Exploration of a Prototype Approach." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52.6 (1987): 1061-1086. Weisman, A.D. On dying and denying: A psychiatric study of terminality. New York: Behavioral Publications, 1972. Wickramasekera, Ian and Daniel C. Price. "Morbid Obesity, Absorption, Neuroticism, and the High Risk Model of Threat Perception." American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 39 (1997): 291-301. Yalom, I. D. Existential Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books, 1980. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Henley, Nadine. "You will die! " M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5.1 (2002). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0203/youwilldie.php>. Chicago Style Henley, Nadine, "You will die! " M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5, no. 1 (2002), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0203/youwilldie.php> ([your date of access]). APA Style Henley, Nadine. (2002) You will die! . M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5(1). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0203/youwilldie.php> ([your date of access]).