PSY 2114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Effective Potential, Music Therapy, Assisted Suicide

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2114
• Professor: Heather Poole

Document Summary

The majority of people have a long, drawn-out death because of the progress in medical advancements. Death is no longer an immediate or fast process anymore, as seen as a trend across western cultures. Physical suffering is not uncommon, as much as we try to manage pain it is not always managed successfully. Shortly before death, patients tend to draw into themselves, as we see a decrease in: Blood pressure: phases of death, agonal phase: struggle (ie. trying to breathe, making noises, clinical death: no vital signs, can be resuscitated, mortality: permanent death, honesty surrounding death. A consequence of this ability to prolong life and post-pone death is that it now becomes a common goal and medical professionals will take any steps necessary. This has lead to the tendency of not telling people that they are dying, which limits preparation for death (seems sudden) resulting in emotional distress and challenges that would otherwise not occur.