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 English Italiano     Presenters A - C Aragona, Marcello

English Italiano Print this page Living and dying: therapeutic relationship improvement through death acceptation in the transpersonal experiential approach

Marcello AragonaAim: To be aware of the sufferance related to patients death and to one’s mortality and to transform it in an healthier way. To be more free from fear of death, unhealthy believes, unresolved conflicts, and to be able to accept the sacrality of death for saving energy to live, and to be more available and authentic in the therapeutic relationships.

Fear of death, real or symbolical, is very frequent in oncology. It is a very strong emotion that easily amplify itself by recruiting from emotional memory any similar situation, directly from the limbic system (Davidson). It works mainly outside from consciousness and frequently remains unrecognised. Similarly to any strong emotion, it inevitably worsen personal and social activity, and particularly the oncology team/patient relationship, especially if it is not recognised (Grossman, Wilber, Maslow). Specific techniques are known to slow down emotional and neuro-endocrine activations (Davidson, Aragona, Lazar, Lutz, Montecucco, Posner, Salomons, Wager, Le Doux).

Because the main part of the therapeutic relationship is unconscious, and physicians, nurses, are usually not specifically trained in it, unrecognised and not elaborated fear of death highly activate limbic system and may induce sufferance, distress, burnout, and/or may impair therapeutic relationship itself (Muscatello, Davidson, Kubler-Ross).

The transpersonal mind-body-spirit model is particularly useful in this context (Grossman, Wilber, Vaughan) because it approaches sufferance in a multilevel way: from conscious to unconscious, from body to emotions, to mind, society, spirit, from rational to non rational, creative, intuitive, peak experiences, by respecting and empowering the individual inmost attitudes-needs-Self. It was widely applied by Joules Grossman, in S. Francisco and Italy, and improved by us, since 1983 to now.

The latest 3 courses were held in Messina (2007, 2008, 2009) with ECM credits (n.1127-268104 and 8005711 and 9010114, with 12 and 17 credits each: http://www.ministerosalute.it/ecm/ecm.jsp).

 

Method: By using the transpersonal mind-body-spirit approach each participant will be encouraged to explore directly the conscious and unconscious sufferance related to death at personal and interpersonal levels (Wilber, Grossman).

Techniques and procedures:

  • Bioenergetics to allow the exploration of conscious and unconscious body-emotional world;
  • Role-playing to allow the focalisation of sufferance and the mechanisms involved in it;
  • Metamusic to allow brain synchronization at low levels (theta, delta brain waves), and left frontal cortex activation to slow down amigdala, and to go deeply into relaxation, meditative and creative states, integration of all levels of consciousness, and well being.
  • Meditation and guided imagery to allow deeply exploration of unconscious world related to death, for recovering it to consciousness and starting its elaboration. Expansion of consciousness, peak experiences, creativeness, oneness experience, spirituality are involved in this process.
  • Sharing of emerging experiences that can be rapidly elaborated in the transpersonal setting and transformed in an healthier way.

 

In this experiential setting, each participant will keep in touch with the sacrality of death and of life, as well as of one’s unconscious world, needs, beliefs, emotions, meaning of life and death, self-realization, spirituality.

Being more confident with death and one’s mortality at all levels of our being, from the physical-emotional one, to the mental, social and spiritual, induce more enthusiasm in life and more availability and authenticity to interpersonal relationships (Wilber, Grossman, Maslow, Vaughan, Siegel, Le Shan, Aragona, etc.).

Results will be discussed

 

M. Aragona, professor of bioetics University of  Messina
Psicoterapist, Hospice Policlinico di Messina

Patronage granted by:

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Partner:

Gruppo Anima

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