ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the previous chapter’s discussion of how the self may persist in the absence of the body, whether dying or dead. As we saw, some older adults continue to enjoy a relationship with a deceased spouse or partner and indeed the injunction to ‘let go’ of the dead, which until recently has underpinned bereavement counselling, is likely to be played down in relation to older people. Arnason states that during training as a counsellor:
it was implied that the elderly might be excused for continuing their lives as they had lived them with their partners for a life time, but that younger people should…take hold of their lives and try to live them as they want to.
