[To near one's death is to near one's life. Laws and principles to guide one in the terminal phase.].
The practice of therapy has gradually led me to meet people suffering from chronic illness, and to accompany some of them to the point of their death. In this article, I describe the basic laws and principles which guide my interventions with terminal phase patients, and with their entourage. My discoveries and observations in the course of this work have led me to view death as a natural process of transformation, and thus to define the role of the therapist, or any other person called upon to experience a helping relationship with a dying patient, as that of a guide facilitating, on the one hand, this passage from life to death, and on the other, initiating the detachment from persons close to the dying individual. The philosophy which emanates from this life-death exchange, flows from the awareness that I want to share in this text, that is to say, "to approach one's death is to approach one's life", and underlines the importance of being completely available to the present moment.
Clermont
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