Reflections on termination reveal insights into the needs of traumatized patients, highlighting resigning themes of aging and emotional access.
Reflections on the process of psychoanalytic termination led to reexamination of a long-term case of a person who experienced major dissociation in response to severe neglect in infancy and beyond. Her need to return one year after our ending led to a reconsideration of what ending is possible for our more traumatized patients. This essay also considers larger themes of aging, dying, and departure as they relate to increased access to aliveness in the present.
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Alice A. Jones (2025) studied this question.
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