The Psychology of Death and Dying

Collectively, Americans seem to actively deny death as a natural occurrence in life. Just like our obsession with maintaining youthful appearances, we are fixated on maintaining unprecedented life spans, now a possibility through stem cell research and the potential future of widespread eugenics. Instead of acknowledging death, it becomes a taboo subject, occasionally brought up during life insurance policies and estate sales. Americans do not have holidays to pay homage to the deceased like El Dia De Los Muertos in Mexico or shrines of ancestors as a permanent fixture in their homes like the Japanese. The only portrayal of death found in the media is the typical notion of heaven and hell, for example movies like What Dreams May Come, where Robin Williams must emancipate his wife from the shackles of hell. Or other popular movies, such as Contact with Jodie Foster, where children perceive the dead as normal people existing in a parallel realm, not unlike physical reality. Another commo...