Creating an Online Memorial Website Can Help With Grief and Bereavement

By Mark Dubray

Coping with the loss of a loved one and the grief that ensues can be overwhelming and sometimes difficult to manage. Death is one unavoidable certainty that we can expect in one's lifetime but that we rarely think about on a regular basis. So when it does occur, we are sometimes unprepared. This can cause a lot of stress in a person's life, and they may not know how to deal with it.

Bereavement from losing a loved one can be one of the most stressful events in a person's life. Stress, especially if persistent in nature, can affect a person's well-being and lead to serious health problems that may disturb multiple organ systems. The digestive, immune, cardiovascular and nervous systems may all be afflicted and lead to potential life threatening conditions such as bleeding ulcers, chronic infections, depression, diabetes, and heart disease. If a person does not address their grief and the stress associated with it, it may alter their overall health status for the worse.

With the advent of the internet, more people are using online means to seek out social support and facilitate the grieving process. One such medium is an online memorial website, where people can create a profile to commemorate a deceased loved one. Memorial websites can help to honor the legacy of loved ones through contributions from other people from around the globe. Photos, videos, and messages are some of the features that can be shared by family and friends and thus a place to preserve these memories for future generations to enjoy.

Online memorials have become a beneficial platform for those in mourning by allowing access to support from family and friends. Sharing meaningful memories of the deceased with others can help to initiate positive emotions. Research has shown that conjuring positive emotions and a strong social support network during times of grief can help reduce the effects of both chronic and acute stress, as well as allow a person to recover from grief faster.

Benefits of creating an online memorial:

1. It can give unlimited access to a support network of family and friends from all over the world.
2. It can help bring out positive emotions and, therefore, reduce stress and heal faster.
3. It can be a place to preserve favorite memories of a loved one through shared comments, photos and videos.
4. It can allow a bereaved individual to discuss their feelings, at any time of the day, with people who may be dealing with a similar grief.
5. It can be a place to create a family tree to be passed on to future generations.

It should be noted that in certain circumstances, such as with a sudden or traumatic death of a loved one, how a person copes can vary from person-to-person. At some point, there may be a need for professional intervention.

MemoryChestMemorials.com is an online memorial website that offers interactive memorial profiles to commemorate a loved one forever. It also donates a portion of its proceeds to a variety of charities.

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For more information, you might enjoy reading my book, More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife. Purchase paperback on Amazon.com. It's also on Amazon as an e-book for those who have Kindle or Sony Readers. The audio book is now available!
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Doing Death Differently

As part of Australia's First Social Changemaker's Festival, The Australian Social Innovation eXchange, The Groundswell Project and LifeRites are holding an event at Weave Arts Centre to open up conversation about death, dying and bereavement practices and innovations in Australia. You may be interested in both the event, and the blog written about it - Doing death differently

Visit www.socialcentral.com.au Join us on twitter: @social_central @lifebywords Or facebook

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For more information, you might enjoy reading my book, More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife. Purchase paperback on Amazon.com. It's also on Amazon as an e-book for those who have Kindle or Sony Readers. The audio book is now available!
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Topics of psychology regarding death and dying

The following comes from my handwritten notes from an online sociology class I am taking via Chemeketa Community College. The text book for this class is Death Dying, & Bereavement by Michael Leming and George Dickinson.

1. Sociology looks at how individuals and society interact with one another and how we agree upon accepted and shared meaning and attitudes toward death and dying. This includes the loss of relationships due to death, how one person’s death affects an entire society, how society influences the meaning of death, how the meaning of death is agreed upon by a group of people, and how we respond and react to one another when the death and dying process is brought near and personal.

I found comfort in the text that mentioned the audience of dying person shifting from the living to the supernatural. My own grandmother is a case in point. She has been speaking to deceased relatives more and more as she approaches her final days. Her husband, my grandfather, did the same thing when he was transitioning in 1988. So did my uncle in 2001. Some will say this is drug-induced but according to Death Dying, & Bereavement by Leming and Dickinson, it is common for those who are departing the earth realm to talk to the unseen or deceased loved ones. I believe my grandmother actually sees and hears in the spirit realm. She has ever since she had a near-death experience in the 1950s.

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For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife. Purchase on Amazon.com

Never Too Late to Learn

Even though I've written a book on the subject, I've signed up for an online college class on dying, death, and bereavement. I've been watching my aunt and grandmother slowly slide the slippery dying slope for the past ten months. I figure I'm about to have a crash course in death and bereavement, so I might as well learn how to do it right.

Can you believe I am actually excited about taking a course about such as "grave" matter? Pun intended. This week, I got the $112 used text book in the mail. (Can you say death of a checkbook?) Since the class starts on September 28, I plan to read the first chapter before I embark on my week-long trip to the Dominica Republic this coming Friday. I emailed the instructor two weeks ago to let her know that I would not be in class the first week, but she hasn't replied. I hope she hasn't died.

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For more information, you might enjoy reading the complete book More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife available on Amazon.com.