ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore how the Western societal context of shame profoundly affects individuals who are facing death or who have experienced a signicant loss through death. I will begin with an exploration of the social and political inuences in Western society that dene shameful experiences, and how social responses to death and death-related subjects are essentially the same responses that are recruited in dealing with shame. I will then explore how social norms in Western society inuence the experiences of individuals facing death and loss, and the therapeutic implications for bereaved individuals.
