Musings on Mortality: Good dying time results in good death
The very first module for my medical humanities course is called "Good Death: Oxymoron or Possibility?" A good death implies a good dying time leading up to death. The question is, can dying ever be good or is this unacceptable given it is, after all, dying — the end of life? Many of my... Read more. #DeborahAlecson #dying #deathphobia #stress #impermanence #fears #reassurance #permissiontodie
Musings on Mortality: Combat stress by embracing whatever brings joy
There is a term used in the field of thanatology called "mortality salience." It comes out of a theory called "Terror Management Theory" that American social psychologists proposed based on the brilliant work of the cultural anthropologist, Ernest Becker, presented in his 1974 Pulitzer... Read more. #DeborahAlecson #dying #deathphobia #anxiety #currentevents #mortalitysalience #stress
Musings on Mortality: Being open about death helps everyone
When death is in the house you feel the impermanence of life. When you feel the impermanence of life, you feel truth. When death is in the house, you have a keen sense of the present moment and it feels like wonder. When you are with a person in his dying time, there is little... Read more. #DeborahAlecson #dying #deathdenial #deathphobia #collectivefear #anxiety #currentevents
Musings on Mortality: Current events can escalate death phobia
It starts with the denial of death. We are pretty sure that we won't die anytime soon so we don't give it much thought. Why obsess over it? It will happen one day, but not today. So, we make decisions about our lives that do not include dying. As far as figuring out why we're alive in the... Read more. #DeborahAlecson #dying #deathdenial #deathphobia #collectivefear #anxiety #currentevents
Can We Ever Be Prepared to Die?
Ms. Alecson examines this contemporary and socially relevant discourse. Recorded in Palo Alto, CA on May 27, 2015. #medicalethics #conscious #family #dying #thanatology #death
Taylor & Francis Online: Converting Loss Into Language
Converting Loss Into Language DOI:10.1080/02682621.2014.980990 Deborah Golden Alecson MS Special Education Adjunct Instructor, pages 127-130 Professional publication. Paid Subscription required. Click here to read more. #death #dying #bereavement #excelsiorcollege #thanatology
Dying in America
Distance EDU on Demand presents Deborah Golden Alecson's discussion on a September 2014 report issued by the Institute of Medicine called “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life.” Alecson is a faculty member in the Schools of Health Science and Nursing and one of Excelsior’s resident experts on death, dying and bereavement. Click here to listen. #podcast #excelsiorcollege #death #dying #interfaith
Conscious Dying with Deborah Golden Alecson
Hospice Care in the Berkshires Presents "Inside Hospice Care" with host, Jane Salata, speaking with author, thanatologist, poet and educator, Deborah Golden Alecson, on the topic of conscious dying. Recorded in 2008. #hospicecare #eldercare #palliativecare #conscious #death #dying #thanatology #medicalethics #berkshires
Redefining Hope with Deborah Golden Alecson
Hospice Care in the Berkshires Presents "Inside Hospice Care" with host, Jane Salata, speaking with author, thanatologist, poet and educator, Deborah Golden Alecson, on the topic of redefining hope. Recorded in 2009. #hospice #death #dying #thanatology #medicalethics #pancreaticcancer #berkshires #video
Live & Learn: Excelsior College Magazine
Vol. 16, No. 1 | Spring 2014 Death, dying, and bereavement are anything but dead subjects for School of Health Sciences adjunct faculty member Deborah Golden Alecson. She tapped into an Excelsior Faculty Professional Development Grant to moderate an interfaith forum on the spiritual beliefs and rituals related to the process of dying, death, and the afterlife as understood by many of the world's religions. Click here to read more. #death #dying #bereavement #excelsiorcollege
