ABSTRACT

In Chapter 1, the cornerstone of this book is a reprint of Murray Bowen’s chapter, “Family Reaction to Death.” Bowen died in 1990. In 1978 he wrote the following summary of this chapter: “Family systems theory provides a broader perspective of death than is possible with conventional psychiatric theory, which focuses on death as a process within the individual. The first part of this chapter deals with the closed relationship between the patient, the family, and physicians, and family therapy methods that have been helpful in overcoming some of the anxiety that creates the closed system communication. The second section deals with the ‘Emotional Shock Wave’ that is present to some degree in a significant percentage of families. Knowledge of this, which is the direct result of family research, provides the professional person with a different dimension for understanding emotional interdependence and long-term complications of death in a family. The final section deals with the emotional impact of funerals and ways the professional person can help surviving relatives to achieve a better level of emotional functioning by calmly facing the anxiety of death” (p. 335).