Death & Dying

A psychotherapy icon grapples with the imminent death of his wife as she moves from palliative care to hospice care. Read more

Some older people sink into states of depression, apathy, or agitated irritability, but emotional distress in this population is too often seen as part of an... Read more

Suicide isn't simply the tragedy of someone taking their own life: it's also the long, excruciating nightmare of being left behind. Read more

Many of the ways that children grieve differently from adults can go unrecognized and unprocessed. Read more

Our last Clinician’s Quandary on helping clients—and ourselves—navigate grief work received an overwhelming number of responses. So many, in fact, that... Read more

Author Kenneth Paul Rosenberg explores the catastrophic inadequacies of our mental healthcare system that have led to “the greatest social crisis of our... Read more

A number of states have passed legislation giving terminal patients the option of medical aid in dying. What therapists need to know about helping patients and... Read more

What do you do when your life’s expectations get turned upside down? Read more

Hospital protocols have replaced the time-honored customs that once enabled the dying to be lead actors in their life’s final drama. Why do we spend so much... Read more

Over the course of my career, numerous world events have entered my office. But none of them prepared me for grieving the murder of Catherine, my client of 15... Read more

Bestselling author Barbara Ehrenreich believes that our obsession with longevity may have gone too far. Read more

When our clients are facing their own mortality, how can we guide them in a way that's both compassionate and realistic? In the following video, therapist... Read more

Why did a seeming rags-to-riches story of a young man’s triumph over poverty and the lure of the streets end so tragically? Read more

As the writers in this issue powerfully demonstrate, medical science has made extended dying and its impact on relatives and loved ones—what psychologist... Read more

We’re living longer and longer, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that we’d choose to live through a painful terminal illnesses. Do we have the right to... Read more

A perverse set of financial incentives within the medical system too often leads to the promotion of maximum treatment, no matter what. When this happens... Read more

In a very dark corner of each of our minds is a voice that says, “I’m going to die. One day, I’m going to die.” How we react to this voice determines... Read more

Helping a child move through grief sometimes means avoiding the temptation to ease her pain. Read more

Few of us instinctively know what to do and say when families are confronting the death of a loved one. But we can start by being with them in the struggle. Read more

Our best teachers aren't always the two-legged kind. Read more

Sometimes honesty isn't the best policy. Read more

Therapists who can surf the transference and countertransference of chronic disappointment by being mindful of their own inner states can find creative... Read more

In our technological society, real death is hidden away while fantasized deaths are available for viewing in dizzying numbers. It's time to separate our... Read more