ABSTRACT
After the unprecedented display of public emotionalism over the death of Princess Diana in 1997, it is difficult to sustain the myth that Britain is the land of the stiff upper lip. Although the role of the therapeutic ethos was rarely discussed before Diana’s death, its influence on British culture has been significant for some time. Since the nineties the history of Aberfan is being rewritten in line with therapeutic ethos. Even sections of the counseling profession are concerned by the routinization of the demand for therapeutic intervention. Therapeutic intervention is not simply confined to the relationship of the therapist and the client. The invasion of the therapeutic ethos into other professions and forms of authority is particularly striking in relation to British religious institutions. The colonization of the sphere of religion by therapeutic authority is manifest in relation to the way British society engages with the phenomenon of death.
