Diversity and Intersectionality of Identity

Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (APP)
2019-20, 1st Block — Mondays, 6:30-7:45pm
Jacqui Metzger, MSW

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October 21, 2019 — Talking With A Dying Patient

Presenter: Píyale Cömert, PhD

[13 pages]

Allan, M. (2017) Working with a dying patient and the power of the patient analyst bond. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 12:131-143.

By discussing the Margaret Allen article, we hope to have a deeper understanding of how to work with a dying patient (or an elderly patient who is contemplating their eventual death) and how the experience impacts the analyst as well as the patient. Please give some thought to elderly patients you have worked with or patients who have stayed in therapy for a long time whose aging (as well as your own in relationship to the patient) you have witnessed. Please consider sharing these experiences so that we can have a richer understanding of:

•  special therapeutic needs of elderly patients
•  the impact of aging on our patients,
•  the impact of aging on us as human beings and as mental health providers,
•  the impact of aging on our work.

Optional Reading

Gawande, A. (2014). “Letting go” in Being Mortal, Medicine and What Matters in the End. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp149-190.

Atul Gawande’s chapter is informative and thought provoking. It is not required reading. However, if you are able to read it, it would provide a valuable angle for our class discussion.