The birth of a psychotherapist in the area between life and death

Palliative care, placing as the centre of interest the person in his totality and accepting to speak of death, represents today for modern medicine and for contemporary culture in general, a provocation but also an occasion for growth. In this way all of the carers, notwithstanding their professional role, are called to come to terms with a sense of precariousness, the complexity of the experience of pain and separation. The psychologist, in particular, realizes that the traditional concepts of "setting", "request", "role", become such a strong source of tension that doubt arises that the psychological intervention can be called "therapy". Through the experience of a psychotherapist in training, the present article recounts the birth and the development of the psychological work in a hospice and raises the question of whether the intervention can be called "therapy". It is hypothesized that it is in the ethical nature of the relationship with the sick person that the therapeutic value of the intervention is founded.

Keywords: Palliative care, pain, person, setting, request, role, therapy

Cinzia Beccattini, Nascere come psicoterapeuta nel confine tra la vita e la morte in "RUOLO TERAPEUTICO (IL)" 116/2011, pp 35-50, DOI: 10.3280/RT2011-116005