Mourning facing the death of a beloved person: cultural and spiritual beliefs

Abstract

Western science, influenced by jewish and catholic traditions- put aside death and only considered it as the death of the physical body. The soul or human spirit was put aside and was only considered by western philosophy and religion. The discipline known today as “Palliative Care” has produced valuable research and has developed ways of treating old and terminally ill people, preparing them to face their death and allowing them to go through a “good death”, helping also their families to go through a “normal grieving”. Social Psychology Across Cultures has found differences between western and eastern cultures in their beliefs and spiritual and religiuos practices around death and dying, around ways of expressing or supressing emotions in the grieving process, and around the importance of giving social support for those who lost a loved one, so the grieving does not turn into a “pathological” one. As mental health professionals, if we consider both spiritual and religiuos beliefs within Psychology, we can take care of those patients who are going to die, prepararing them to face their death, helping their families to accompany the dying ones, and collaborating with them in the grieving process of their loved ones. We could probably bring much benefit in the care of the body, the psyche and the soul of those ones who are dying and of those ones who are going through a process of grieving the family member whom they lost.

Keywords

• duelo
• buen morir
• cuidados espirituales
• creencias culturales
• apoyo social