ABSTRACT
Being around death over an extended period of time can cause many feelings to surface—anger, frustration, depression, worry, hurt feelings, disappointment, remorse, and sadness. These negative emotions that funeral directors and their spouses often encounter are the results of tension and stress within the funeral home setting. Health issues sometimes become a major factor as one deals with his/her own mortality. Working with children who have died and helping the families to cope with their losses rank at the top of the list for causing major stress. The continuing need for visual closure following the death of a loved one, especially one who had died in a tragic manner and could not be publicly viewed, caused many stressful moments for the funeral directors who prepared the bodies. Sometimes their efforts with cosmetic enhancement and bone restructure were inadequate. Sometimes funeral directors focus their anger toward their spouses for any mistake or error that is made in regard to a service.
