Rites of Passage: A Correlation with Daily Life Fears, Pain and Loss of Control - Essay Example

Rites Of Passage: A Correlation With Daily Life Fears, Pain and Loss Of Control Introduction: The greatest dilemma of a man in sickness is whether to accept or discard the new condition that life has put him into. During birth and death, such conditions are experienced by not only the main person who is giving birth or facing death, but also by his family members and friends (Walsh, 2003, p.12). Most human beings wish to lead a healthy and prosperous lifestyle. In cases of illness, the condition of physical or mental impairment is considered as a temporary phase in life, by friends and family. It is in the special cases when a chronic or an advanced problem is detected that the sufferer is required to make a mental transition from that of avoidance to acceptance. The process is not easy and definitely requires a lot of effort from the side of the patient and his family members. Facts differ from case to case and we will study all the aspects of pain, fear and loss of control in individuals from a rites of passage aspect, wherein various factor and aspects related to birth and death like pain, fear and loss of control are observed from a societal perspective. PAIN: Pain can be inflicted on a person or a society in several ways. Pain could be physical or psychological. While physical pain can cause a person to take life changing decisions, psychological pain definitely has an impact on the future course of a person’s life. Even an animal changes its ways when inflicted repeatedly with pain and torture. Life offers many occasions of pain to individuals and whether physical or mental, painful memories are those which make man take wise decisions in life. Birth and death are both painful processes. Other than that, on an individual basis, pain comes in the form of torture or disease. While torture is a pain causing element coming from an external source, disease related pain is often intrinsic and hard to bear. Torture leads to revengeful feelings while disease related pain can either instill fear of fatality or a positivity n the outcome to fight the condition using medication, trained staff like doctors and nurses and long term counseling and therapy (Fox & Worts, 1999, p.326). In a society, pain is usually inflicted by a tyrant governing body or war. Pain in society is often the reason behind severe losses in humanity. For example, the World War II resulted due to the pain of loss and underdevelopment in the German and Russian populations that led to rise of figures who believed in violence. Separation: A person undergoing pain is definitely isolated from other people around him since he is unable to reach a balanced state of physical and mental health owing to the pain and needs immediate attention in the form of medical advice and monitoring, which helps him control or come out of the painful situation. Even in hospitals as we know, people suffering from excessive pain are moved to critical and intensive care wards and not allowed to rest or recover along with patients experiencing less pain (Fox & Worts, 1999, p.339). The same process holds good for a person suffering from mental pain or physical inability. For example, a diabetes patient who is on injections for most of the day is undergoing a continuous pain in his life. He begins to understand the situation by going into isolation from the rest of his friends and family and gets used to the new lifestyle (Walsh 2003, p.9). Similarly, a man suffering from depression after a break up requires separating away from the partner and often from his family and friends. He then understands the pain of the separation and slowly begins to come to terms with the entire new lifestyle. The aspect of separation in painful cases is more directed towards realization or diagnosis of the pain factor and how to combat it. Transition: Once a person realizes that pain, whether chronic or sudden is a part of life and will have to be accepted as it is, they start to accept its occurrence in the daily routine. In the colonial days, many societies and countries grew used to the torture that ensued on the local populations and almost started to live with it. The period of transition in pain is very important as it can have either positive or negative impacts. The occurrence of wars in society, the rise of a revengeful attitude, or a lack of zest in life all happen in this phase. Incorporation: Incorporation is often the most positive outcome of fear wherein living with the pain in its harmless form is accepted by the sufferer. Dynamics that work within this phase is societal acceptance and declaration of the existence of a painful condition in the person or part of the society. It is important to move on in life no matter how much pain or damage one goes through. Overcoming pain leads to a feeling of power and achievement in individuals and this is best see in women at the time of giving birth to a child (Leap & Anderson, 2008, p.29). Fear A condition that can unconsciously paralyze a human being, fear is a necessary aspect of our lives and is safe as long as it is under control. However, special cases of fear or phobia to certain activities or aspects of life can take monstrous dimensions causing psychological stress and mental impairment. People suffer from phobia to water, driving, heights, strangers, ghosts, insects, and many other aspects of life. The worst fear is the fear of failure or death often found in patients and their family members. Fear is not as harmful as its impacts are. We examine the condition as a paralyzing factor and check what rites of passage occur in this form of mental affliction. Fear during pregnancy and death are common occurrences today. Women fear death of self or child (Fox & Worts, 1999, p.340) and old people fear loss of near and dear ones and the transition to the unknown. Separation People who are afraid of a certain aspect of life as mentioned above have a chronic problem that cannot be treated unless identified. While the focus of our study is not on the treatment of this condition, we also have to recognize temporary fears that take enormous shapes as seen in case of fatal diseases and accidents. The fear of death and doom often causes a person to isolate himself from the rest of the crowd. We are always aware of people suffering from a phobia mentioning it upfront to avoid situations where they have to face an embarrassing moment. Such mental isolation is not uncommon even if the person is freely mixing in the society. The separation of people suffering from one or more kinds of fear is more mental than physical. In case of ailing persons, the fear of death and failure in treatment cause them to be isolated whether at home or in the hospital. A man devoid of fear will be able to interact with other patients freely, while men devoid of free will not have a problem with the umpteen number of doctor visits or tests. Fear of violence, darkness, disease or death is commonly seen in people around us. Such people have a general tendency to go out of the way of harm, and keep themselves isolated mentally from day to day situations that pose such challenges to them. For people who start developing such fear, the main focus is to keep the mind from losing its balance. Therefore, they themselves or their family members try to protect the person suffering from the fear. Thus, the main factor is separation of people suffering for a phobia is to identify the trait and the cause of fear in the person. If it is treatable, which is the case in most people, the condition is addressed using psychological therapy, counseling, vacations and stress relief exercises. However, for a pregnant woman going through a fear phase, it is understood that the child may have suffer from negative impacts. It is in such conditions where isolation of the patient becomes highly important. In such cases, fear and disease are conditions which are withheld from the sufferer and not discussed with him or her. Ethically, most providers prefer to administer counseling to the sufferer in isolation. Nobody feels safe and secure when their secrets are revealed to a bunch of friends or the society in general. Therefore, one to one counseling sessions are required for a person recognize and fight the condition. Technology used to get rid of fear is often directed towards gaming and adventure and uses the person’s passions to empower his fears. Another form of fear is societal fear where in a part of full of a society suffers from a certain type of fear. Family members fear the loss of a near one during birth or death. People have seen multiple incidences of societal fear like fear of war, divisions, and unknown elements like UFO landings, ghosts, wild animals and other such natural aspects. A society may not be isolated from all other societies in the country, but will still hold a mental gap with other societies since it experiencing growth of fear within its members due to such elements. Again, in such cases of fear, the isolation is more mental than physical. While in case of deaths, the societal fear is family centric and is more regarding the manner of the death, the person dying may suffer from a fear of the unknown journey that awaits him after life (Rando, 1985, p.236). Transition : Acceptance of fear factors in one’s life is not easy. However, a thorough personality assessment is always good to ensure healthy body and mind in all of us. When in isolation, which is largely mental, a person starts realizing the various aspects and dimensions of his fear. He may have hallucinations in advanced stages and will tend to retain friends and family with him. At this stage, the person already knows the factors that cause the fear and is trying to make a transition from ignorance and unacceptance to acceptance of the facts that is causing the fear (Elkins, 1985, p.27). There is no doubt at after a certain level of isolation, the person suffering from the phobia slowly comes to terms with the fact that he suffers from the condition. In this transition phase, the person tries to himself identify and point out the factors that instill fear and why they do so. Extensive counseling sessions help in this stage. It is important to follow up with the mental condition by a psychologist who knows that the person is in a transition phase and is trying to accept and face the fear. For society that falls prey to a certain type of fear, the transition phase is massive as it involves mental conditioning of all the members of the community, often triggered by mutual suggestions and understanding. Understanding the challenge of overcoming the fear is important. However, building around a fear and finding its solutions is not always an easy task in the society, especially where there are too many brains at work. Therefore, in the transition stage, a lot of arguments and discussions result due to active involvement of different members of the society. Incorporation Incorporation of the fear aspect in daily life a quite a big step in the life and personality of the sufferer, and is reassuring to both family and friends of a sufferer. In most cases, the person learns to walk with the consciousness that fear factors do exist in life and that he has to come to terms with it (Schouten, 1991, p.413). He understands the extremities that his fear or phobia can go into, and devises an understanding of how to stop the extreme impact from revealing or expressing through his personality. This whole process of acceptance and incorporation of damage control measures in a person’s life is unique in people who suffer from phobia since there is no external help available. Doctors have no medicine for fear, but counseling offers mental therapy that helps a person understand and overcome his fear instincts. In most cases, the incorporation stage leads to a balanced state of mind in the person wherein there are no extreme reactions, emergencies or specific medical attention required. A person is able to attain balance of the nervous system even if he is facing the cause of his fear. In a society that is suffering from a cumulative fear syndrome, the stage of incorporation involves going for group activities like discussions and processions to raise awareness regarding the fear causing factor. The development of a positive attitude in a group is extremely important to avoid psychological impacts of a societal fear. In most cases, social evils are completely destroyed in a local population through this incorporation phase. People not only come to terms with the existence of the fear, but also start devising ways to annihilate the cause of the problem. Loss Of Control: Loss of control in life, administration or certain activities is an important change that occurs in the lives of different people in different stages. Old people, paralysis patients, and handicapped children all go through this unwelcome change wherein undertaking day today activities become tough for the sufferer. Change of governments and administrative authority in companies and groups or corporate bodies leads to a different kind of loss of control situation (Elkins, 1985, p.27). In all these aspects, the rites of passage are defined superbly by the impact of the loss on the main protagonists undergoing the change. Similar instances are seen in pregnant and dying individuals who lose their control of daily activities and have to face the fact that they are weak and seemingly invalid to undertake life processes. Separation: When a new boss is elected the old boss goes into isolation. When a new handicap is diagnosed in a family member, he or she tends to go into isolation (Schouten, 1991, p.419). When a person is found to have unsocial or unique behavior he is immediately isolated from the rest of the crowd. Thus, loss of control could happen to anyone whether physically, functionally or mentally. The society immediately responds by singling out such cases and observing them under the microscope. While the society does its work, the person or people undergoing the change suffer from symptoms of depression or self analysis during is period of separation from the main lot. Transition: The people involved in this loss of control begin to understand that this is their new way of life and start accepting their new life. Incorporation: The society begins to recognize the person as the way he chooses to live after the transition phase. Surprisingly, al negativity can be removed right during the transition phase. Therefore bitter feelings that result from loss of control, as in paralytic, handicapped or aged patients or ousted governments are to be treated individually in the transition phase and by the society in the incorporation phase. Conclusion: Pain, fear and loss of control are conditions that occur in rites of passage in separation, transition and societal incorporation in various degrees all of which in totality, are important in empowering a person or a society. References: Elkins, J. R. (1985). Rites de Passage: Law Students Telling Their Lives. J. Legal Educ., 35, 27. Fox, B., & Worts, D. (1999). Revisiting the critique of medicalized childbirth A contribution to the Sociology of Birth. Gender & Society, 13(3), 326-346. Leap, N., & Anderson, T. (2008). The role of pain in normal birth and the empowerment. Normal childbirth: Evidence and debate, 29. Rando, T. A. (1985). Creating therapeutic rituals in the psychotherapy of the bereaved. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 22(2), 236. Schouten, J. W. (1991). Selves in transition: Symbolic consumption in personal rites of passage and identity reconstruction. Journal of Consumer Research, 412-425. Walsh, F. (2003). Family resilience: A framework for clinical practice. Family process, 42(1), 1-18. Read More