Proposes task-based approach for understanding coping with dying. Outlines four primary areas of coping with dying (physical, psychological, social, spiritual) which define four primary areas of task work in coping with dying. Offers argument as to why task-based approach should be adopted. Notes four advantages that apply to task-based approach…

Briefly explores the needs served by pet cemeteries, the difficulties that confront many of these facilities, and the larger implications for memorialization and the sense of loss. Includes photographic tour of Pet Rest Memorial Mortuary and Cemetery in Tempe, Arizona. (Author/NB)

Instructor at Air Force Institute of Technology describes role in preparing officers and noncommissioned officers to care for Air Force's dead, thus making them mortuary officers. Notes that officers possess no special skills, are not tested for psychological aptitude, and are not given any initial special/additional training. Describes…

Notes that approximately 250 to 1,000 deaths in United States annually are result of autoerotic asphyxiation, hangings that were intended to enhance sexual excitement. Reviews scattered literature on autoerotic asphyxiation and includes observations by two psychiatrists and medical examiner. Notes that much remains to be learned about this…

Familiarizes counselors with role of death fear as primary source of anxiety for all individuals. Attempts to define death anxiety and demonstrate how defense mechanisms used to deny it can affect development in young adulthood. Provides three examples of maladaptive modes of behavior resulting from ineffective defense mechanisms (addiction,…

Attempts to reflect the highly realistic world that many parents confront after the death of their child. Describes adjustment as harsh, complex, and long lasting. Explores factors influencing the parents' situation and possible counselor responses. Looks at the grieving process, societal attitudes, family life, and counseling strategies.…

Describes how a university-affiliated women's support group coped with the serious illness and subsequent death of one of its members. Both individual and group reactions are noted. Also explores the normal grieving process, pathological grief reactions, and the relationship of death to group termination. (Author)

This paper recognizes murder as a major cause of mortality among adolescents and young adults and addresses the need for research examining the effects of murder on the victim's surviving family members. The information contained in this report was obtained from surveys completed by 237 members of the Parents of Murdered Children support group.…

Describes university and community response to serial murders of five students. The campus crisis management efforts, early crisis intervention activities, rumor control, role of the media, and many other aspects of the crisis are discussed. (Author/NB)

Assesses the impact of a loss experience within the family unit. Discusses how the loss affects the nuclear family and how socio-cultural and psychodynamic factors impact family grief. Issues in family counseling are then highlighted with suggestions for the grief counselor. (ML)

Describes four modes of positive survival with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and analyzes them as they appear in support groups for people with AIDS. Sees beneficent, artistic-spiritual, heroic, and rational-instrumental survival modes as compromise solutions to fears of life and death described by Rank. Calls analysis nonpejorative…

Uses case study to present grief counseling guidelines for members of the school, community, and concerned parents affected by death. Argues that information lessens fear, and memorializing or commemorating the deceased helps children understand death and creates a foundation for the grief process. Lists age-oriented concepts of death,…

Considers ways that elementary school counselors can help children who are grieving over the death of a parent. Explains process of grieving, presents developmental considerations, and identifies adults in the school who can work together to help grieving child. Explores role of school counselor in this process, providing 20 recommendations. (NB)

Because the onset of a spinal cord injury may involve a brush with death and because serious injury and disability can act as a reminder of death, death anxiety was examined as a predictor of posttraumatic stress levels among individuals with disabilities. This cross-sectional study used multiple regression and multivariate multiple regression to…

Educators contribute to children's anxiety and pain when they fail to provide children with information about loss and death and ways of coping with loss and death. Children who are denied factual information about experiences of loss and death develop fantasies and misconceptions regarding the experiences and suffer more anxiety and pain than…