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I've been thinking about end of life care recently, and learning more about a) how to talk to people when they receive a terminal diagnosis, b) how to prioritize quality of life/identifying what matters for these patients
I found this paper, which explored the use of logotherapy in adolescents receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis: https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO200918133142149.pdf
Logotherapy is a concept crafted by Victor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist who believed that the pursuit of meaning was one tool to alleviate suffering. More on logotherapy from Frankl here: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-17807-001
Thinking about death can be morbid, but it's a crucial time and one of two certainties in life (the other being birth). The paper was fascinating because it outlined a possible method to reframe suffering through meaning , thus allowing patients to make peace with their condition
They used a logotherapy education program to introduce patients to the idea of identifying meaning in a five step manner:
Step 1: introduce patients to the concept of logotherapy
Steps 2-4: following Frankl's method to discover meaning for any life situation
Step 5: emphasize patient's autonomy over their lives
Steps 2-4: following Frankl's method to discover meaning for any life situation
Step 5: emphasize patient's autonomy over their lives
n=49 patients in the study (25 experimental and 24 ). Though the sample size was relatively small, the authors found that there were significant differences in self-reported suffering and meaning in life, and no difference in spiritual well being
Specific stats along with Mann-Whitney results:
To me, it's fascinating to identify how to console patients when there is no good answer to how they ended up sick, and there is no path to recovery on the horizon. The one thing we can do is help these patients find peace with a life outcome completely out of their control
