{"id":324,"date":"2021-04-15T14:08:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-healthpsychology\/?post_type=chapter&p=324"},"modified":"2021-04-15T14:08:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:08:12","slug":"the-process-of-dying","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hvcc-healthpsychology\/chapter\/the-process-of-dying\/","title":{"raw":"The Process of Dying","rendered":"The Process of Dying"},"content":{"raw":"[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/h3a2whfgUfQ[\/embed]\r\n
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Aspects of Death<\/h1>\r\nOne way to understand death and dying is to look more closely at physical death, psychological death, and social death.\u00a0These deaths do not occur simultaneously.\u00a0Rather, a person\u2019s physiological, social, and psychic death can occur at different times (Pattison, 1977).\r\n\r\nPhysiological death<\/strong>\u00a0occurs when the vital organs no longer function.\u00a0The digestive and respiratory systems begin to shut down during the gradual process of dying.\u00a0A dying person no longer wants to eat as digestion slows and the digestive track loses moisture and chewing, swallowing, and elimination become painful processes.\u00a0Circulation slows and mottling or the pooling of blood may be noticeable on the underside of the body appearing much like bruising.\u00a0Breathing becomes more sporadic and shallow and may make a rattling sound as air travels through mucus filled passageways.\u00a0The person often sleeps more and more and may talk less although continues to hear.\u00a0 The kinds of symptoms noted prior to death in patients under hospice care (care focused on helping patients die as comfortably as possible) is noted below.\r\n
\"Bar<\/div>\r\nWhen a person no longer has brain activity, they are\u00a0clinically\u00a0dead.\u00a0Physiological death may take 72 or fewer hours.\r\n\r\nSocial death\u00a0<\/strong>begins much earlier than physiological death.\u00a0Social death occurs when others begin to withdraw from someone who is terminally ill or has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.\u00a0Those diagnosed with conditions such as AIDS or cancer may find that friends, family members, and even health care professionals begin to say less and visit less frequently.\u00a0Meaningful discussions may be replaced with comments about the weather or other topics of light conversation.\u00a0Doctors may spend less time with patients\u00a0after their prognosis becomes poor.\u00a0Why do others begin to withdraw?\u00a0Friends and family members may feel that they do not know what to say or that they can offer no solutions to relieve suffering.\u00a0They withdraw to protect themselves against feeling inadequate or from having to face the reality of death.\u00a0Health professionals, trained to heal, may also feel inadequate and uncomfortable facing decline and death.\u00a0A patient who is dying may be referred to as \u201ccircling the drain\u201d meaning that they are approaching death.\u00a0People in nursing homes may live as socially dead for years with no one visiting or calling.\u00a0Social support is important for quality of life and those who experience social death are deprived from the benefits that come from loving interaction with others.\r\n\r\nPsychic death<\/strong>\u00a0occurs when the dying person begins to accept death and to withdraw from others and regress into the self.\u00a0This can take place long before physiological death (or even social death if others are still supporting and visiting the dying person) and can even bring physiological death closer.\u00a0People have some control over the timing of their death and can hold on until after important occasions or die quickly after having lost someone important to them.\u00a0They can give up their will to live.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"