title: Imposed termination of psychotherapy and its relation to death and mourning.
abstract: For the psychotherapist unilaterally to impose a termination date to therapy is a manoeuvre not often discussed; but with some patients it may be the only way of forcing critical issues into the open. The patient's position is then analogous to that of a bereaved mourner or someone with a terminal illness, and a sequence of responses can be observed identical to that which occurs in those cases. A detailed clinical example illustrates this. There appears to be a specific developmental task common to all such situations which is called forth by them. Subjecting a patient to this is a drastic measure; the therapist's difficulty in deciding whether to do so is considered in relation to transference and counter-transference.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D003643:Death; D003859:Dependent Personality Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D014167:Transference, Psychology