Cultural background helps to determine one's attitudes toward death.
In a religious society, in which people view the process of dying as a natural transition from one state of being to another, the though of death often causes less fear. Western culture, on the other hand, has long viewed death as a forbidden subject. It has been customary to cope with death be pretending that it wasn't approaching, despite all evidence to the contrary. This denial isolated the dying person from society, friends, and even close family members. In recent years attitudes have begun to change somewhat, and death and dying now are discussed more candidly.