Return to Treatment After the Accidental Death of a Psychiatrist

Abstract

Freud's silence on his own eventual death was followed by a modern scientific silence on the eventual death of the psychiatrist. Interruption of a therapeutic relationship established over many years and in which the practitioner was the confidant of the patient's most intimate secrets cannot occur without suffering. The risk of pathological mourning and traumatic grief must be prevented by the care system, which will contact patients to offer them continuous care. Our reflections will establish guidelines for medical staff and administrative authorities when a practitioner in a hospital or private practice dies suddenly.

KEYWORDS:

• guidelines
• posttraumatic grief
• posttraumatic stress disorder
• psychic trauma
• psychopathology
• psychotherapy

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yann Auxéméry

Yann Auxéméry is a psychiatrist in the French army. He has written numerous papers on psychological trauma, psychosis, and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Recent works deal with concepts of reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnoses.