Robert Kastenbaum

Habituation as a model of human aging.

This article introduces a new partial model of human aging that centers around the process known as habituation. The essence of habituation is progressive response decrement to a stimulus as the organisms exposure to this stimulus increases. Basic concepts and studies of habituation in its traditional sphere-infancy and early childhood—are reviewed. It is pointed out that habituation is a process that has been identified very early in life and which is intimately related to major psychobiological variables, capable of generalization, and thought to have enduring characteristics. It is further suggested that there is a striking resemblance between habituation and core features of the “aged state.” The amenability of habituation to clear-cut experimentation and precise quantification is also noted. The possibility is presented that aging might be regarded as a disorder of habituation. The phenomena of hyper-and hypo-habituation are briefly discussed, along with several problems and potentials in this new model of aging.

Patterns and Meanings of Prayer in Hospice Caregivers: An Exploratory Study.

An exploratory study was conducted into the role of prayer in the personal and professional lives of caregivers to the dying. Background questionnaires were completed by 78 counselors, doctors, nurses, and volunteers who were associated with hospice programs in Arizona. Semistructured interviews were then conducted with 24 men and women who were selected randomly from the pool of questionnaires. Most of the caregivers described themselves as being very religious. The typical caregiver makes frequent use of prayer as a means of helping her/himself to cope with the stresses and challenges encountered in hospice work. These prayers are most often private, spontaneous, and improvised, rather than reiterations of formalized prayer texts. The caregivers seldom pray with patients and family, or petition God for particular interventions. Essentially, prayer is considered to be a vital but personal way of maintaining the persons own hope, strength, and wisdom. Comparisons are made with a related study of prayer behavior and attitudes conducted with participants at a national conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling.

Reconstructing Death in Postmodern Society.

Thanatology—defined here as “the study of life with death left in”—did not emerge as a field of concerted scholarly attention until the aftermath of World War II, which temporarily pierced societys armor of denial. This article examines the interaction between the emerging thantalogical movement and its sociohistorical context. Thanatology entered the scene during the declining years of industrialism and will take on new shape as individuals and society attempt to cope with postmodernistic forces and the deconstructive mentality. In general, thanatology has earned a degree of social integration by behaving itself surprisingly well—meaning that it has utilized existing modalities and procedures, endorsed traditional values, and looked the part of the responsible citizen. The ongoing process of reconstructing death, however, promises to be more unsettling for all concerned. Examples are offered in the realm of attitudes toward the dead body, death education without death, and the tendency to construct death from the ways in which people die. The prospect for an authentic solidarity against distress in a reconstructed death system is briefly considered in conclusion.

Midlife loss : coping strategies

Introduction - Robert Kastenbaum Models of Midlife - Margaret Hellie Huyck In the Midst of the Years - Dennis Klass Stress and Loss in Middle Age - David Chiriboga Death of a Parent - Miriam S Moss and Sidney Z Moss Mid-Life Parental Imperatives - Margaret Hellie Huyck Resolution of Parental Bereavement - Dennis Klass Divorce at Mid-Life - David A Chiriboga Death of a Spouse - Alice S Demi Job Loss in Middle Age - Linda K George and Deborah T Gold Loss of Homeland and Culture During the Middle Years - Barbara W K Yee The T Generation - Richard Kalish with Margaret Hellie Huyck Postscript - Daniel Kalish Reflections on My Fathers Death

Theory, Research, and Application: Some Critical Issues for Thanatology

The current status of thanatological research is illustrated by an examination of a) the most popular line of empirical investigation, and b) the most sweeping theoretical approach yet proposed. Surprisingly, perhaps, there has been little connection between the productive, assembly line type studies of “death anxiety,” and Freuds theory of the “death instinct”–nor have either of these topics had much impact upon terminal care and other practical matters. An exclusive interview with an anonymous death anxiety scale reveals many of the limitations found in this line of research. Wherever else the answer might be found, “Death, where is thy sting?” is a question not likely to be discovered via a fifteen-item fixed-choice instrument. If “death anxiety” research often takes the form of raw and simplistic empiricism, then death instinct theory suffers primarily from mirror-image problems–a conceptualization that strikes many as too philosophical, and which has yet to be linked to clear operational measures. Despite its serious difficulties, the death instinct theory may deserve more attention than it has received from the present generation of thanatologists. Furthermore, death anxiety findings, if used with care, do have some implications for practice. Researchers and practitioners in death-related topics seem to have taken divergent pathways, and give little attention to each others realm of experience. Better concepts, methods, and applications may require a wider angle of vision among thanatologists.

Dying and its Interpreters: A Review of Selected Literature and Some Comments on the State of the Field:

What have been the major theoretical approaches that have been useful in the study of dying to date? What theoretical approaches hold promise for the future? Selected literature on dying and coping with dying is reviewed in an effort to describe the present state of our knowledge in this field and to contribute to an overall theory of dying. Three central topics are 1) awareness of and communication about dying; 2) processes of illness; and 3) coping with dying. Reflections are offered on the kinds[s] of theory that might be desirable in this field, together with a number of lessons that can be drawn from the existing literature. A continued exploration of the ways that theoretical perspectives from psychology and sociology such as developmental theory, Symbolic lnteractionism, or Reconstructism can lead to greater understanding of the dying process.

Cookies Baking, Coffee Brewing: Toward a Contextual Theory of Dying

Tolstois novel The Death of Ivan Ilych provides an instructive, though fictional case history of individual and family suffering. A contrasting actual case history is presented here in which a visiting nurse was asked to help an elderly woman care for her terminally ill husband at home. Husband and wife were both of Russian heritage. The experiences of the Ilychs and the Tchinskys are compared with respect to the dimensions of consciousness, pain, communication network, relationship, life value, at-home services, and the nature of the dying persons physical being as a transactional symbol. These observations are then examined with respect to current theoretical approaches to understanding the process of dying. The usefulness and limitations of these theories are briefly examined. The dying persons physical being and its symbolic construction and communication are relatively neglected by current theories. A suggestion is made for the development of a contextual theory of dying that would be more inclusive, integrated, and helpful to caregivers.

Brief periods of environmental enrichment facilitate adolescent development of gerbils

In a lifespan study, measures of motor behavior and somatic growth were recorded monthly from 31 male and 31 female gerbils. Each month, after measures were recorded, the gerbils were placed in a large, outdoor environment, or in a small indoor control cage for one hour. The enrichment experience for one hour a month had no effect on motor behavior between 2 and 7 months of age, but facilitated adolescent development. Area of the ventral gland increased more rapidly in gerbils given environmental enrichment. In male gerbils, the hindlimb was longer in those given environmental enrichment, but the opposite was true in female gerbils. More female gerbils had seizures than did male gerbils after 3 months of age, and enrichment had no significant effect on seizures in female gerbils. In male gerbils, however, more of the gerbils given enrichment experience had seizures from 2 to 4 months of age and fewer had seizures at 5 and 6 months of age than did controls.

On the Future of Death: Some Images and Options

Voices of the past insist that we have no significant options with respect to death. Voices of the future protest that the past does not hold the future captive and some even proclaim the eventual technological conquest of death. This paper offers a dialogue between past and future orientations toward death, taking as focus the question: is suicidology absurd? Some major dimensions of our cultures death system are discussed. The tendency to regard death as an individual and discrete event is contrasted with the mass processing of death (and life), and the many ways in which death-related dimensions permeate daily life. A narrow suicidology could play into some of the more dubious aspects of our national character, while an enlightened suicidology could increase our options and emphasize the inner relationship of every human being to the mortality of himself and others.

“Safe Death” in the Postmodern World

Let us begin with the proposition that some deaths are better than others. A student of logic would make mince pie of this statement in no time. “You are indulging in a lazy, gross, and elementary error’ Dying is not death. People may die in a thousand ways. This does not mean that there are a thousand kinds of death. “Dying” is our word for the particular way a person lives as life approaches cessation. “Death” is the word for our ignorance regarding what happens — or does not happen — when people stop living and dying. We may have our preferences for modalities of dying, but all reach the same destination.”