Funeral Service Psychology & Counseling Glossary

Question 1

the individual’s ability to adjust to the psychological and emotional changes brought on by a stressful event such as the death of a significant other.

Answer 1

Adaptation

Question 2

external expression of emotion.

Answer 2

Affect

Question 3

those appropriate and helpful acts of counseling that come after the funeral.

Answer 3

Aftercare (post-funeral counseling)

Question 4

the intentional infliction of physical or psychological harm on another.

Answer 4

Aggression

Question 5

the state of estrangement an individual feels in social settings that are viewed as foreign, unpredictable or unacceptable.

Answer 5

Alienation

Question 6

providing a choice of services and merchandise available as families make a selection and complete funeral arrangements, formulating different actions in adjusting to a crisis.

Answer 6

Alternatives

Question 7

blame directed towards another person.

Answer 7

Anger

Question 8

grief where mourning customs are unclear due to an inappropriate death and the absence of prior bereavement experience.

Answer 8

Anomic grief

Question 9

grief in anticipation of death or loss

Answer 9

Anticipatory grief

Question 10

an emotion characterized by a vague fear or premonition that something undesirable is going to happen.

Answer 10

Anxiety

Question 11

funeral director consulting with the family from the time the death occurs until the final disposition.

Answer 11

At-need counseling

Question 12

the tendency to make strong affectional bonds with others coming from the need for security and safety.

Answer 12

Attachment (Bowlby)

Question 13

giving undivided attention by means of verbal and non-verbal behavior. (listening)

Answer 13

Attending

Question 14

a learned tendency to respond to people, objects, or institutions in a positive or negative way.

Answer 14

Attitude

Question 15

the act or event of separation or loss that results in the experience of grief.

Answer 15

Bereavement

Question 16

excessive in duration and never coming to a satisfactory conclusion.

Answer 16

Chronic grief

Question 17

non-directive method of counseling which stresses the inherent worth of the client and the natural capacity for growth and health.

Answer 17

Client centered counseling (Rogers) - (person centered counseling)

Question 18

from the Latin, “to know;” the study of the origins and consequences of thoughts, memories, beliefs, perceptions, explanations, and other mental processes.

Answer 18

Cognitive psychology

Question 19

a general term for the exchange of information, feelings, thoughts and acts between two or more people, including both verbal and non-verbal aspects of this interchange.

Answer 19

Communication

Question 20

grief that interferes with normal life functions without progressing towards resolution.

Answer 20

Complicated (abnormal, unresolved) grief

Question 21

the necessary quality of a counselor being in touch with reality and other’s perception of oneself.

Answer 21

Congruence (Rogers)

Question 22

characteristic ways of responding to stress.

Answer 22

Coping

Question 23

the individual seeking assistance or guidance.

Answer 23

Counselee

Question 24

advice, especially that given as a result of consultation.

Answer 24

Counseling (Webster)

Question 25

any time someone helps someone else with a problem.

Answer 25

Counseling (Jackson)

Question 26

good communication within and between men; or, good (free) communication within or between men is always therapeutic.

Answer 26

Counseling (Rogers)

Question 27

a therapeutic experience for reasonably healthy persons. A counselor’s clients are encouraged to seek assistance before they develop serious neurotic, psychotic, or characterological disorders.

Answer 27

Counseling (Ohlsen)

Question 28

the individual providing assistance and guidance.

Answer 28

Counselor

Question 29

a highly emotional temporary state in which an individual’s feelings of anxiety, grief, confusion or pain impair his or her ability to act.

Answer 29

Crisis

Question 30

interventions which help individuals in a crisis situation.

Answer 30

Crisis counseling

Question 31

a learned emotional response to death-related phenomenon which is characterized by extreme apprehension.

Answer 31

Death anxiety

Question 32

an often unconscious mental process used to defend against anxiety.

Answer 32

Defense mechanisms

Question 33

inhibited, suppressed or postponed response to a loss.

Answer 33

Delayed grief (Worden)

Question 34

the defense mechanism by which a person is unable or refuses to see things as they are because such facts are threatening to the self.

Answer 34

Denial

Question 35

counselor takes an active speaking role, asking questions, suggesting courses of action.

Answer 35

Directive counseling

Question 36

treating members of groups differently in circumstances where their rights or treatment should be identical.

Answer 36

Discrimination

Question 37

redirecting feelings toward a person or object other than one who caused the feelings originally.

Answer 37

Displacement

Question 38

feelings such as happiness, anger or grief, created by brain patterns accompanied by bodily changes.

Answer 38

Emotion(s)

Question 39

the ability to perceive another’s experience and communicate that perception back to the person.

Answer 39

Empathy (Wolfelt)

Question 40

(right to die) an act or practice of allowing or causing the death of persons suffering from a life-limiting condition.

Answer 40

Euthanasia

Question 41

reactions that are excessive and disabling.

Answer 41

Exaggerated grief (Worden)

Question 42

to assist the understanding of situations and options concerning the circumstances.

Answer 42

Facilitate

Question 43

strong emotion marked by such reactions as alarm, dread or disquiet.

Answer 43

Fear

Question 44

centering a client’s thinking and feelings on the situation causing a problem.

Answer 44

Focusing

Question 45

the study of human behavior as related to funeral service.

Answer 45

Funeral service psychology

Question 46

the ability to present oneself sincerely.

Answer 46

Genuineness (Wolfelt)

Question 47

an emotion or set of emotions due to loss

Answer 47

Grief

Question 48

helping people facilitate grief to a healthy resolution.

Answer 48

Grief counseling

Question 49

a set of symptoms associated with loss.

Answer 49

Grief syndrome (Lindemann)

Question 50

specialized techniques which are used to help people with complicated grief reactions.

Answer 50

Grief therapy (Worden)

Question 51

a process occurring with losses aimed at loosening the attachment to that which has been lost for appropriate reinvestment.

Answer 51

Griefwork (Lindemann)

Question 52

support or support system provided to the counselee who is seeking an alternative adjustment to problems.

Answer 52

Guidance

Question 53

blame directed toward one’s self based on real or unreal conditions.

Answer 53

Guilt

Question 54

the killing of one human being by another.

Answer 54

Homicide

Question 55

a philosophy of care used in treating the terminally ill.

Answer 55

Hospice

Question 56

counseling in which a counselor shares a body of special information with a counselee.

Answer 56

Informational counseling

Question 57

experiencing symptoms and behaviors which cause difficulty but not attributing them to the loss.

Answer 57

Masked grief (Worden)

Question 58

any event, person or object that lessens the degree of pain in grief.

Answer 58

MItigation

Question 59

outward expression of grief.

Answer 59

Mourning

Question 60

that which is expressed by posture, facial expression, actions, physical behavior.

Answer 60

Non-verbal communication

Question 61

choice of actions provided through counseling as a means of solving the counselee’s problem.

Answer 61

Option

Question 62

a strong emotion characterized by sudden and extreme fear.

Answer 62

Panic

Question 63

expressing a thought or idea in an alternate and sometimes shortened form.

Answer 63

Paraphrasing

Question 64

Another term for Client-centered counseling

Answer 64

Person centered counseling (Rogers)

Question 65

Another term for aftercare

Answer 65

Post-funeral counseling

Question 66

negative attitude towards others based on their gender, religion, race, or membership in a particular group.

Answer 66

Prejudice

Question 67

counseling which occurs before a death.

Answer 67

Pre-need counseling

Question 68

attribution of one’s unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to someone else.

Answer 68

Projection

Question 69

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Answer 69

Psychology

Question 70

intervention with people whose needs are so specific that usually they can only be met by specially trained physicians or psychologists. The practitioners in this field need special training because they often work with deeper levels of consciousness.

Answer 70

Psychotherapy (Jackson)

Question 71

a relation of harmony established in any human interaction.

Answer 71

Rapport

Question 72

supplying a logical, acceptable reason rather than the real reason for an action.

Answer 72

Rationalization

Question 73

returning to more familiar and often more primitive modes of coping.

Answer 73

Regression

Question 74

blocking of threatening material from consciousness.

Answer 74

Repression

Question 75

the ability to communicate the belief that everyone possesses the capacity and right to choose alternatives and make decisions.

Answer 75

Respect (Wolfelt)

Question 76

Compulsive need to go after and retrieve that which has been lost.

Answer 76

Searching

Question 77

blame that is perceived to be directed toward one’s self by others.

Answer 77

Shame

Question 78

the reaction of the body to an event often experienced emotionally as a sudden, violent and upsetting disturbance.

Answer 78

Shock

Question 79

related to specific situations in life that may created crises and produce human pain and suffering.

Answer 79

Situational Counseling

Question 80

making judgments about ourselves through comparison with others.

Answer 80

Social comparison

Question 81

occurs when an individual’s performance improves because of the presence of others.

Answer 81

Social facilitation

Question 82

the mental and physical condition that occurs when a person must adjust or adapt to the environment.

Answer 82

Stress

Question 83

any event capable of producing physical or emotional stress.

Answer 83

Stressor

Question 84

redirection of emotion to culturally or socially useful purposes.

Answer 84

Sublimation

Question 85

the sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant, which remains unexplained after a complete autopsy and a review of the circumstances around the death.

Answer 85

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or crib death)

Question 86

a deliberate and voluntary act of taking one’s own life.

Answer 86

Suicide

Question 87

a brief review of points covered in a portion of the counseling session.

Answer 87

Summary

Question 88

a conscious postponement of addressing anxieties and concerns.

Answer 88

Suppression

Question 89

sincere feelings for the person who is trying to adjust to a serious loss.

Answer 89

Sympathy

Question 90

the study of death, dying, bereavement, and mourning.

Answer 90

Thanatology

Question 91

an irrational, exaggerated fear of death.

Answer 91

Thanatophobia

Question 92

the region of the mind that is beyond awareness especially impulses and desires not directly known to a person.

Answer 92

Unconscious

Question 93

spoken, oral communication.

Answer 93

Verbal communication

Question 94

the ability to be considerate and friendly as demonstrated by both verbal and non-verbal behaviors.

Answer 94

Warmth and caring (Wolfelt)