Talk:Thanatology

Family

And what about a desseaced person's family... is there a good way for keep them in a good mental situation? I think that the dead doesn't need a solution, but his or her family need it. What do you think about? Anticipate thanks for your response. [200.67.150.165, 17:42, 17 Sep 2004]

Well, I've rewritten the article, so this may partially answer your question. I'm not familiar with specific therapies and techniques to help out the deceased's family, so I'm adding it to the to-do list for now. I may eventually research these techniques, though it's not my area of expertise — any nurses, vets, psychiatrists, or anyone else who knows a thing or two about thanatology is particularly welcome to add to the article. :-) • Benc • 08:16, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

mortuary science and technology

mortuary scientists and funeral directors deal with thanatology in the sense that they are the ones who prepare the bodies for their final rest. While the work of a practical thanatologist involves many techniques medical personnel perform, e.g. restoring facial features, dehydrating bodies with edema etc, they do not consider themselves medical personnel for it is not their goal to save a life, but to prepare the body so that it can be positively viewed by the bereaved. It is of great concern to them how the viewing influences their mourning process.

"Alternately, a terminally ill individual who believes that suicide is a sin may be wracked with guilt. On one hand, he may wish to end the suffering, but on the other hand, he may believe that he will be sent to hell for eternity unless he dies naturally, however long and painful that may be."

I'm no expert on the topic, but having a basic knowledge on modern Christian (at least Protestant) doctrine, people choose not to end their lives in a terminal situation for religious reasons other than the belief that they will go to hell if they do so. The article implies that all religions that oppose euthenasia also believe that suicides are condemned to hell, which is not true in all cases.

It would be nice if this could be acknowledged in the article, but having never directly studied thanatology myself, I feel unqualified to do so unilaterally.

Citations, Advertising and Unreferenced Opinion.

This article is severely lacking in references. I was tempted to remove quite a lot of it but instead chose to indicate where citations were needed, although that applies to virtually every claim.

Also, I removed the text mentioning specific universities in America and Spain that offer courses in Thanatology from the 'Fields of Study' section, because universities are usually deemed businesses, and it therefore constitutes advertising in my opinion. However, if a compromise is to be reached, a new section (or page) listing the universities offering the study of Thanatology might be more appropriate. This at least separates what should be unbiased from what may be biased. Nebuliser (talk) 01:36, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but you were far too liberal with the citations. Some of them were sorely needed, but others were just rubbish in my eyes and I'm sure many others at least. I'm removing one or two that are just silly. For example, do we really need a citation that social sciences frequently encounter death? Sociology in particular is highly observant of social mores and rituals. Death is one of the most intimate of mores that a society engages in; funeral pyres for example are rituals that societies the world over have taken very seriously for millennia. To imply that this most basic of facts requires citation is ludicrous. Of course the death rituals of a given society would be studied by Sociologists and other social sciences, by definition! It's merely a basic logical connection. To say we need citations of that is to reject the definition of Sociology. I will be removing at least that instance, for the aforementioned reasons. Obviously I will accept any reverts made by authorities, but I feel my position has been sufficiently reasoned. If you disagree with that, maybe you've taken Bishop Berkeley and Hume too seriously (Berkeley was somewhat nutty too).

65.31.118.134 (talk) 05:18, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Improvements

In the first section titled, “History”, you begin talking about a man named Ellie Metchnikoff. You then immediately talk about his work which he was known for, “phagocytosis”. I don’t believe many viewers of this page will know the meaning of that word and in turn, it will be a bit difficult for them to be able to make sense of the whole paragraph without knowing the main premise of his work. I think it would be beneficial to add a bit of information concerning this topic.K.wilson (talk) 21:09, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Joe- Also in the “History” section, the death and dignity movement is cited as a reason for an increase in the interest in thanatology. Personally, I don’t know anything about that particular movement so it might be beneficial to give a very brief description of what that entailed and why people became more concerned with thanatology as a result of it. It is better to assume the reader doesn’t know a lot about the topic.. K.wilson (talk) 21:09, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Maddie- In the “Goals” section of the article, in the last paragraph it is written that thanatology has come a long way and is very prominent. There isn’t any information about the prominence of this. Some statistics may be helpful that depict the rise in education about death in universities over time. Also, I think that there could be more information added to the “Forensic Science” section of the article it seems like there is more information on this topic.K.wilson (talk) 21:09, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Krista Wilson- In the “Coping with Death” section I noticed a couple things that could be improved. The word ‘wellbeing” should be hyphenated like such, well-being. One sentence says “one coming myth” when it should be “one common myth”. Another says ‘pay an enormous medical bills’ so, the ‘s’ on bill should be removed. Also, there’s a phrase in the section that says, “supporting their loved ones who is nearing the end of their day”, I think better grammar and word choice could make this better by saying, “supporting their loved ones who are passing away.” K.wilson (talk) 21:09, 10 April 2017 (UTC)