• DOI:10.1080/07481187.2011.535377
• Corpus ID: 1067025

Beyond Terror and Denial: The Positive Psychology of Death Acceptance

@article{Wong2011BeyondTA,
  title={Beyond Terror and Denial: The Positive Psychology of Death Acceptance},
  author={Paul T. P. Wong and Adrian Tomer},
  journal={Death Studies},
  year={2011},
  volume={35},
  pages={106 - 99}
}

• P. Wong, A. Tomer
• Published 10 February 2011
• Psychology
• Death Studies

Death remains the biggest threat as well as the greatest challenge to humanity. It is the single universal event that affects all of us in ways more than we care to know (Greenberg, Koole, & Pyszczynski, 2004; Wass & Neimeyer, 1995; Yalom, 2008). Because of the unique human capacity of meaning-making and social construction, death has evolved into a very complex and dynamic system, involving biological, psychological, spiritual, societal, and cultural components (Kastenbaum, 2000). Whatever meanings we attach to death may have important implications for our wellbeing. Thus, at a personal level, death attitudes matter: Death defines personal meaning and determines how we live (Neimeyer, 2005; Tomer, 2000; Tomer, Eliason, & Wong, 2008). At the cultural level, death also makes its ubiquitous presence felt in a broad spectrum of social functions, from family, religion, and the entertainment industry to medical care (Kearl, 1989). How we relate to our own mortality is in turn mediated by family, society, and culture (Kastenbaum, 2000). In sum, all human activities are framed by death anxiety and colored by our collective and individual efforts to resolve this inescapable and intractable existential given. In the post-9=11 era, the ever-present threat of terrorist attacks has injected into our collective awareness the unpredictable nature