Contradictions and dialectics in the palliative dialogue: enhancing the palliative dialogue by dialectical principles.
The application of required communication skills in the palliative dialogue necessitates a significant transition from the paternalistic medical approach to the holistic psychosocial approach that focuses on the patient and views the individual as a whole entity. Understanding the evolution of a therapeutic relationship in terms of entrance into the relationship, development, maintenance, and leave taking as well as the adoption of dialectical ideas gives palliative caregivers flexibility in the dialogue with patients and families. Accepting the principles of dialectics, in which the existence of contradictions is seen as an inherent part of a reality that is undergoing constant change, gives the caregiver the flexibility to interpret dichotomic thoughts and emotions as a dialectic failure and, in accordance, to move toward a synthesis of the ideas of living and dying. This approach provides caregivers the means to promote the palliative dialogue, implement varied communication skills to clarify the patient's goals, and implement a therapeutic plan to realize them.
Department of Family Medicine, Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel; Maccabi Health Services-Negev District, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Tali
T
Samson
Department of Family Medicine, Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel; Pain and Palliative Care Unit, Clalit Health Services - Southern District, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Electronic address: spesah@bgu.ac.il.
Pesach
P
Shvartzman
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations
Professional quality of life; coping strategies; dialectical approaches; palliative dialogue; therapeutic relationship evolution