Death and Adjustment- The Hypothesis - Part - XIV
In the previous part of the hypothesis I concluded about six usual stages of adjustment with death for an individual.
An average healthy adult can remain at any stage according to his personal view.
From the view point of mental health or the science of human mind every stage has its own significance which will be discussed below in a reverse sequence.
The last or sixth stage, that is acceptance or adjustment with death, is definitely the most desired pattern of reaction for any practical and inevitable problem.
But question should be raised how much or how well the acceptance or the adjustment is.
In a study I conducted on Muslims of Bangladesh, I have seen that relationship of one's stage of adjustment with death is very significantly related to the extent of maladjustment symptoms in that person.
So this final stage of adjustment - acceptance should be very much related to our wellbeing.
The fifth stage, depression, can have two faces for us.
One is pathological and other is normal reaction on the way to adjustment with any difficult situation.
If the depression is a pathological condition in this stage, then adjustment will not be optimum and there will be possibility of deviation towards immature defense.
So if mature adaptation is to be achieved, no way pathological depression can be welcomed.
Thus depression as a normal feeling on the way to adjusting with any difficult aspect is the only acceptable form of depression here, and it should not be regarded as any abnormal condition.
The fourth stage, bargaining, represents some disagreement with the available truth.
Its acceptability for good mental health depends on the range of bargaining done.
One can have the mentality to bargain to live longer, but can't do so to live forever.
So up to a certain limit bargaining for a desired object may not be pathological, but crossing the limit would cause pathological situation.
The third stage, anger, is not a mature response for any tough situation.
So this response should be discarded from the list of acceptable responses towards death if we consider mental wellbeing.
Also anger indicates rejection.
Thus something that is inevitable should be accepted as soon as and as smoothly as possible, let alone trying to reject it.
The second stage, denial, is an immature defense or way of adaptation.
It is more unacceptable than anger and also harmful for wellbeing in case of very practical event like death.
The first stage, dissociation, is (in my view) is the current picture in the 21st century civilization.
The predominating life style or its components we have now in our daily life does not indicate to any end to our life, especially considering the attitudes we hold in our young healthy life.
So death is not only denied, it is dissociated from our practical approaches and attitudes.
In this connection I should clarify that dissociation is the combination of denial, repression and isolation to detach a person from a person from unbearable awareness.
I believe among all the available attitude towards death in mass population dissociation is the worst as a way of adjustment and also for mental health.
In the next step of this hypothesis I will try to focus on the impacts of the unhealthy ways of adaptation with death on us in our daily life.
An average healthy adult can remain at any stage according to his personal view.
From the view point of mental health or the science of human mind every stage has its own significance which will be discussed below in a reverse sequence.
The last or sixth stage, that is acceptance or adjustment with death, is definitely the most desired pattern of reaction for any practical and inevitable problem.
But question should be raised how much or how well the acceptance or the adjustment is.
In a study I conducted on Muslims of Bangladesh, I have seen that relationship of one's stage of adjustment with death is very significantly related to the extent of maladjustment symptoms in that person.
So this final stage of adjustment - acceptance should be very much related to our wellbeing.
The fifth stage, depression, can have two faces for us.
One is pathological and other is normal reaction on the way to adjustment with any difficult situation.
If the depression is a pathological condition in this stage, then adjustment will not be optimum and there will be possibility of deviation towards immature defense.
So if mature adaptation is to be achieved, no way pathological depression can be welcomed.
Thus depression as a normal feeling on the way to adjusting with any difficult aspect is the only acceptable form of depression here, and it should not be regarded as any abnormal condition.
The fourth stage, bargaining, represents some disagreement with the available truth.
Its acceptability for good mental health depends on the range of bargaining done.
One can have the mentality to bargain to live longer, but can't do so to live forever.
So up to a certain limit bargaining for a desired object may not be pathological, but crossing the limit would cause pathological situation.
The third stage, anger, is not a mature response for any tough situation.
So this response should be discarded from the list of acceptable responses towards death if we consider mental wellbeing.
Also anger indicates rejection.
Thus something that is inevitable should be accepted as soon as and as smoothly as possible, let alone trying to reject it.
The second stage, denial, is an immature defense or way of adaptation.
It is more unacceptable than anger and also harmful for wellbeing in case of very practical event like death.
The first stage, dissociation, is (in my view) is the current picture in the 21st century civilization.
The predominating life style or its components we have now in our daily life does not indicate to any end to our life, especially considering the attitudes we hold in our young healthy life.
So death is not only denied, it is dissociated from our practical approaches and attitudes.
In this connection I should clarify that dissociation is the combination of denial, repression and isolation to detach a person from a person from unbearable awareness.
I believe among all the available attitude towards death in mass population dissociation is the worst as a way of adjustment and also for mental health.
In the next step of this hypothesis I will try to focus on the impacts of the unhealthy ways of adaptation with death on us in our daily life.