Death Doulas, Emergent or Ancient?

We have not only seen a rise in this role in the death care field, but we have also seen an increase in representation of it in mainstream media. It has shown up in bestselling novels like The Book of Two Ways by Jody Picoult, the hit T.V. series, Limitless with Chris Hemsworth and in pop culture magazine articles like the April 2023 issue of People. Are we seeing this because death doulas are a new and progressive role hitting the scene? If we use the definition of a death doula, as a non-medical holistic support person to an individual who is dying, then death doulas have been around for centuries.

Australian archaeologist, Lorna Tilley, who specializes in the way past societies cared for people who were sick or disabled, says, "From the very earliest times, we can see evidence that people who were unable to function were helped, looked after and given what care was available." What has greatly shifted in our society is the amount of care available. With modern medicine, life prolonging options have become abundant, but with exponential growth, it doesn’t always allow us the processing and reflection time to turn that knowledge into wisdom. People are living longer than we ever have before, but what does that mean? What are the ripple effects of that? This does not mean more younger years, this means more years in old age, and a more gradual descent into end-of-life. These advances in the health care field have in essence shifted medical culture to rebrand death an enemy.

This coupled with the booming development of the commercial funeral industry, virtually removed death from the home and death care from the family, friends and community who previously personally cared for their dying loved ones. This shifted our societies relationship with death in a very uncomfortable way. Seeing death as the rival opponent of life our society began to fear and avoid death in any way possible, including thinking or talking about it. Recently we have seen the pendulum of death care swinging back towards its center. In some pockets there has been a realization and recognition that the way we have been doing end-of-life isn’t working. Death isn’t a disease to cure or a business deal to be made, it is a sacred and natural part of our life’s journey. Due to our newfound gift of longer years creating a less dramatic cliff drop of death, individuals and families are needing more support navigating this last chapter. Therefore, we began to see the birth of the death Doula as a profession.