Meaning, Mortality, and Choice

Meaning, Mortality, and Choice
Author: Phillip R. Shaver
Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2012
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781433811555

Theorists examine the nature of universal themes such as the importance of personal choice and human autonomy in an arbitrary world, and the vital roles of parenthood and religion in providing solace against the threat of meaninglessness.

Defining Death

Defining Death
Author: Robert M. Veatch
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2016-11-03
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1626163561

New technologies and medical treatments have complicated questions such as how to determine the moment when someone has died. The result is a failure to establish consensus on the definition of death and the criteria by which the moment of death is determined. This creates confusion and disagreement not only among medical, legal, and insurance professionals but also within families faced with difficult decisions concerning their loved ones. Distinguished bioethicists Robert M. Veatch and Lainie F. Ross argue that the definition of death is not a scientific question but a social one rooted in religious, philosophical, and social beliefs. Drawing on history and recent court cases, the authors detail three potential definitions of death — the whole-brain concept; the circulatory, or somatic, concept; and the higher-brain concept. Because no one definition of death commands majority support, it creates a major public policy problem. The authors cede that society needs a default definition to proceed in certain cases, like those involving organ transplantation. But they also argue the decision-making process must give individuals the space to choose among plausible definitions of death according to personal beliefs. Taken in part from the authors' latest edition of their groundbreaking work on transplantation ethics, Defining Death is an indispensable guide for professionals in medicine, law, insurance, public policy, theology, and philosophy as well as lay people trying to decide when they want to be treated as dead.

Death by Choice

Death by Choice
Author: Daniel C. Maguire
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1974
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

Freedom to Choose

Freedom to Choose
Author: Burnell M. Burnell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2018-04-30
Genre: Advance directives (Medical care)
ISBN: 9780415784542

"Freedom of Information in a Post 9-11 World" is, to date, the first international scholarly examination of the impact of the terrorist attack on the United States in terms of how it may alter academic and corporate research, as well as the sharing of information generated by that research, by international colleagues in technological fields. The collection of essays brings together a widely varied panel of communications experts from different backgrounds and cultures to focus their expertise on the ramifications of this world-changing event. Drawing upon the related but separate disciplines of law, interpersonal communication, semiotics, rhetoric, management, information sciences, and education, the collection adds new insight to the potential future challenges high-tech professionals and academics will face in a global community that now seems much less communal than it did prior to September 11, 2001.In "Freedom to Choose: How to Make End-of-Life Decisions on Your Own Terms", young persons, baby boomers, and "senior citizens" alike will find the information they need to make intelligent, informed, and well-planned decisions about end-of-life care, and to clearly state their wishes based on personal, cultural, religious, and family values. In direct and simple language, Dr. Burnell describes how to prepare for a smooth transition to end-of-life care and what to do to prevent family conflicts, overcome death fears and anxiety, and achieve peace of mind for our loved ones and ourselves.The book gives practical advice on how to make decisions about end-of-life care and how to prepare a living will and durable power of attorney for health care. Dr. Burnell provides guidelines at the end of each chapter on what to consider before preparing these important documents: how to preserve one's rights as a patient; how to choose the right doctor; the best place to be when critically ill; the laws governing advance directives; and the best alternatives for end-of-life care, such as good pain control and assisted dying (where this is legal). "Freedom to Choose" provides a user-friendly approach to facing these difficult decisions. It includes extensive lists of resources and organizations, and a glossary necessary for understanding the issues at hand. As this book makes clear, preparing an advance directive and knowing all the available options at the end of life are the most important steps for achieving peace of mind.The primary audience is anyone, young or old, who needs to prepare a set of advance directives: healthy people, for themselves or their loved ones who are seriously ill or on life support, and people with a terminal illness. The secondary audience is health professionals who deal with people in end-of-life care or with decision-makers on end-of-life issues: primary care physicians; nurses; geriatricians; psychiatrists; hospice doctors, nurses, and volunteer staff; caregivers for the seriously ill; oncologists; interns and residents; counselors; family therapists; psychologists; social workers who work with the dying and bereaved; attorneys; thanatologists; estate planning advisors; senior citizen center staff; college teachers in death and dying courses; professionals taking courses in psychology, gerontology, thanatology, nursing, and social work.

Freedom to Choose

Freedom to Choose
Author: George M. Burnell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2008
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780895033406

In Freedom to Choose: How to Make End-of-Life Decisions on Your Own Terms, young persons, baby boomers, and "senior citizens" alike will find the information they need to make intelligent, informed, and well-planned decisions about end-of-life care, and to clearly state their wishes based on personal, cultural, religious, and family values. In direct and simple language, Dr. Burnell describes how to prepare for a smooth transition to end-of-life care and what to do to prevent family conflicts, overcome death fears and anxiety, and achieve peace of mind for our loved ones and ourselves. The book gives practical advice on how to make decisions about end-of-life care and how to prepare a living will and durable power of attorney for health care. Dr. Burnell provides guidelines at the end of each chapter on what to consider before preparing these important documents: how to preserve one's rights as a patient; how to choose the right doctor; the best place to be when critically ill; the laws governing advance directives; and the best alternatives for end-of-life care, such as good pain control and assisted dying (where this is legal). Freedom to Choose provides a user-friendly approach to facing these difficult decisions. It includes extensive lists of resources and organizations, and a glossary necessary for understanding the issues at hand. As this book makes clear, preparing an advance directive and knowing all the available options at the end of life are the most important steps for achieving peace of mind.

Top Five Regrets of the Dying

Top Five Regrets of the Dying
Author: Bronnie Ware
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-08-13
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1401956009

Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29 languages. After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story. Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind. In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.

Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology

Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology
Author: Alexander Batthyany
Publisher: Springer Science & Business
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2014-04-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 149390308X

This book is a first attempt to combine insights from the two perspectives with regard to the question of meaning by examining a collection of theoretical and empirical works. This volume therefore is destined to become an important addition to psychological literature: both from the viewpoint of the history of ideas (again this would be one of the first times that positive and existentialist psychologies meet) and from the viewpoint of theoretical and empirical research into the meaning concept in psychology.

Clarifying and Furthering Existential Psychotherapy

Clarifying and Furthering Existential Psychotherapy
Author: Stefan E. Schulenberg
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2016-09-23
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3319310860

This exciting volume brings together leading figures across existential psychology in a clear-sighted guide to its current practice and therapeutic possibilities. Its accessible yet scholarly presentation dispels common myths about existential psychotherapy while demonstrating core methods and innovative techniques as compatible with the range of clinicians’ theoretical orientations and practical approaches. Chapters review the evidence for its therapeutic value, and provide updates on education, training, and research efforts in the field, both in the US and abroad. Throughout, existential psychotherapy emerges as a vital, flexible, and empirically sound modality in keeping with the current—and future—promotion of psychological well-being. Highlights of the coverage include: Emotion, relationship, and meaning as core existential practice: evidence-based foundations. · Meaning-centered psychotherapy: a Socratic clinical practice. Experience processing as an aspect of existential psychotherapy: life enhancement methodology. Structural Existential Analysis (SEA): a phenomenological method for therapeutic work. Experiencing change: an existential perspective. Creating the World Congress for existential therapy. Clarifying and Furthering Existential Psychotherapy will spark discussion and debate among students, therapists, researchers, and practitioners in existential psychology, existential psychotherapy, and allied fields as well as the interested public. It makes a suitable text for graduate courses in existential therapy, psychological theories, and related subjects.

Meaning and Mortality in Kierkegaard and Heidegger

Meaning and Mortality in Kierkegaard and Heidegger
Author: Adam Buben
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2016-04-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0810132524

Death is one of those few topics that attract the attention of just about every significant thinker in the history of Western philosophy, and this attention has resulted in diverse and complex views on death and what comes after. In Meaning and Mortality, Adam Buben offers a remarkably useful new framework for understanding the ways in which philosophy has discussed death by focusing first on two traditional strains in the discussion, the Platonic and the Epicurean. After providing a thorough account of this ancient dichotomy, he describes the development of an alternative means of handling death in Søren Kierkegaard and Martin Heidegger, whose work on death tends to overshadow Kierkegaard's despite the undeniable influence exerted on him by the nineteenth-century Dane. Buben argues that Kierkegaard and Heidegger prescribe a peculiar way of living with death that offers a kind of compromise between the Platonic and the Epicurean strains.

The Experience of Meaning in Life

The Experience of Meaning in Life
Author: Joshua A. Hicks
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2013-05-27
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9400765274

This book offers an in-depth exploration of the burgeoning field of meaning in life in the psychological sciences, covering conceptual and methodological issues, core psychological mechanisms, environmental, cognitive and personality variables and more.