Psychoanalytic psychotherapy and the tragic sense of life and death
Hulsey, T.L.; Frost, C.J.
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 59(2): 145-159
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-9284 PMID: 7540908 Document Number: 448178
The authors discuss the role of psychotherapy with dying patients and explore the psychological impact of imminent death. The psychotherapy case they present highlights the symbolic meaning of fatal symptoms and the light this meaning sheds on the relationship between how we live and how we die. These features are addressed in the context of larger unresolved clinical issues: Is there a "healthy" way to die? And is there a unique role for psychoanalytic psychotherapy with dying patients?