When Professionals Weep: Emotional and Countertransference Responses in End-Of-Life Care

Diverse leaders in the field of death, dying, and bereavement, address the issues surrounding the intersection of the personal and the professional in the unique context of end-of-life care.End-of-life care (EOL) is a specialized area of work that crosses a number of academic and professional disciplines, including social work, counseling, hospice, physical medicine, geriatrics, nursing, counseling, psychology, and clerical work. Professionals who work in EOL have often had deeply moving personal experiences with trauma, death, and loss in their own lives, and almost inevitably bring their own histories, memories, notions, and assumptions to their work. These countertransference responses can be both complex and subtle.