"And Yet It Was a Blessing": The Case for Existential Maturity

Linda L. Emanuel; Neha Reddy; Joshua Hauser; Sarah B. Sonnenfeld

doi:10.1089/jpm.2016.0540

"And Yet It Was a Blessing": The Case for Existential Maturity

Linda L. Emanuel^*, Neha Reddy, Joshua Hauser, Sarah B. Sonnenfeld

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We are interested in the kind of well-being that can occur as a person approaches death; we call it "existential maturity." We describe a conceptual model of this state that we felt was realized in an individual case, illustrating the state by describing the case. Our goal is to articulate a generalizable, working model of existential maturity in concepts and terms taken from fundamentals of psychodynamic theory. We hope that a recognizable case and a model-based way of thinking about what was going on can both help guide care that fosters existential maturity and stimulate more theoretical modeling of the state.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	318-327
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of palliative medicine
Volume	20
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2016.0540
State	Published - Apr 1 2017

Keywords

existential maturity
human development
psychodynamic perspective
terminal illness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
General Nursing

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1089/jpm.2016.0540

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abstract = "We are interested in the kind of well-being that can occur as a person approaches death; we call it {"}existential maturity.{"} We describe a conceptual model of this state that we felt was realized in an individual case, illustrating the state by describing the case. Our goal is to articulate a generalizable, working model of existential maturity in concepts and terms taken from fundamentals of psychodynamic theory. We hope that a recognizable case and a model-based way of thinking about what was going on can both help guide care that fosters existential maturity and stimulate more theoretical modeling of the state.",

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"And Yet It Was a Blessing": The Case for Existential Maturity

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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