Psychotherapeutic Work in Palliative Care

Abstract

In palliative care, multi-professional teams work to improve and maintain the quality of life of terminally ill patients and their families. In this field, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists take on a broad variety of tasks that range from preventive and supportive to psychotherapeutic work. Even if the provision of palliative care frequently does not yet offer appropriate need-based care by psychologists and psychotherapists, developments to that effect are clearly noticeable. The aim of the present article is to give an overview of palliative care as an area of application for psychological and psychotherapeutic interventions. After depicting relevant features of palliative care, characteristic topics, strains, and mental disorders in palliative care will be briefly delineated. Finally, an overview of psychological and psychotherapeutic interventions for palliative care will be presented.

How Safe Do Dying People Feel at Home? Patients’ Perception of Safety While Receiving Specialist Community Palliative Care

“…The newly acquired knowledge about typical barriers and threats to the perception of safety in the home environment could serve as a basis for reducing possible fears and concerns through psychological interventions. 27 The present study further contributes to previous research showing that grievances in care and treatment can trigger patients' experience of unsafe practices. 28 A significant number of study participants felt unsafe as a result of their medical treatment.…”

The Effects of Counseling about Death and Dying on Perceptions, Preparedness, and Anxiety Regarding Death among Family Caregivers Caring for Hospice Patients: A Pilot Study

“…Considering a 10% drop-out rate, data were collected from 37 participants. http://www.e-jhpc.org patients or their family members takes approximately 50 minutes [16]. Prior experimental studies on the effects of education, music, or laughter therapy in South Korea [17][18][19] found that attitudes toward caring hospice patients became more positive after one session of an educational program providing information about hospice [17], anxiety was reduced after one session of music therapy (50 minutes) [18], and anxiety was reduced after one session of laughter therapy (60 minutes) [19].…”

Nueva ley de eutanasia en España. Actualidad y contribuciones desde la psicología de la salud.

“…Una de las prácticas más comunes en nuestro entorno son las intervenciones de cuidados paliativos. Se trata de una intervención multidisciplinar y holística (Von Blanckenburg y Leppin, 2018), focalizada en el manejo y alivio del dolor y otros síntomas biopsicosociales que la persona pudiera presentar (Gramm et al, 2020). Si bien los cuidados paliativos no pretenden adelantar la muerte de la persona, reconociendo esta como un proceso natural (Radbruch et al, 2020), su abordaje incluye prácticas que se ocupan de atender esta, entre las que se incluyen la sedación paliativa o terminal, destinada a controlar la sintomatología refractaria en la persona agonizante, y la limitación o adecuación del esfuerzo terapéutico (Cardona et al, 2010;Mishara y Weisstub.…”

“…La persona que demanda la eutanasia suele encontrarse inmersa en un sufrimiento total, donde las consecuencias más visibles y orgánicas de la enfermedad terminal se acompañan de dificultades psicológicas, existenciales y sociales (Gramm et al, 2020). Una de cada tres personas en situación terminal sufre síntomas notables de ansiedad o depresión (Rosenfeld et al, 2017) y la mayoría puede presentar otros síntomas psicológicos en un umbral al menos subclínico.…”

“…El acompañamiento psicológico es una labor central y distintiva del/la psicólogo/a dentro del equipo de atención para la eutanasia. Este acompañamiento presenta una serie de particularidades (Gramm et al, 2020;Mishara y Weisstub, 2013):…”