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This uncommon book recounts the experience of facing one's death solely from the dying person's point of view rather than from the perspective of carers, survivors, or rescuers. Its unmediated access challenges assumptions about the emotional and spiritual dimensions of dying, showing readers that -- along with suffering, loss, anger, sadness, and fear -- we can feel courage, love, hope, reminiscence, transcendence, transformation, and even happiness as we die. At once psychological, sociological, and philosophical, this work brings together the testimonies of those dying from terminal illness, old age, sudden injury or trauma, acts of war, and the consequences of natural disasters and terrorism. It also includes the statements of individuals who are on death row, in death camps, or planning suicide. Each form of dying highlights an important set of emotions and narratives that often eclipses stereotypical renderings of dying and reflects the numerous contexts in which this journey can occur outside of hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices.
Chapters focus on common emotional themes linked to dying, expanding and challenging them through first-person accounts and analyses of relevant academic and clinical literature in psycho-oncology, palliative care, gerontology, military history, anthropology, sociology, cultural and religious studies, poetry, and fiction. The result is an all-encompassing investigation into an experience that will eventually include us all and is more surprising and profound than anyone can imagine.
A propos de l'auteur
Allan Kellehear is professor of community health at Middlesex University in London. His most recent books on dying and its care include A Social History of Dying and an edited volume of essays titled The Study of Dying: From Autonomy to Transformation.
Résumé
The Inner Life of the Person Dying recounts the experience of facing one's death solely from the dying person's perspective, showing that-along with suffering, loss, anger, sadness, and fear-we can also feel courage, love, hope, transcendence, transformation, and even happiness as we die.
