Coping With Death

COPING WITH DEATH It is only by realizing that death is the beginning of real life that we can begin to cope with the distress and suffering that death leaves in its wake. T wo books, published in the US, look at death from a scientific perspective. One of them, On Children and Death, is written by Elizabeth KublerRoss, who drew material for her work from the families of dying children. The second book is co-authored by Colin Murray Parkes, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the London Hospital Medical College, and Robert S. Weiss, a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts. Titled, Recovery from Bereavement, the book grew out of work done by the Harvard Bereavement Study. It looks at the way widows and widowers under 45 mourn their losses, and asks the question: Why do some get over their grief, while others do not? Both books, then, are the result of entirely scientific research, and aim to provide solace to the bereaved families by adopting a scientific approach.