General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 27, Issue 4 , Pages 256-257 , July 2005

The desire for death arises from an intolerable future rather than an intolerable present

Received 24 March 2005 ,Accepted 5 April 2005.

References 

  1. Hotopf M, Chidgey J, Addington-Hall J, Ly KL. Depression in advanced disease: a systematic review. Part 1. Prevalence and case finding. Palliat Med. 2002;16(2):81–97
  2. Holland JC. History of psycho-oncology: overcoming attitudinal and conceptual barriers. Psychosom Med. 2002;64(2):206–221
  3. Foley KM. Competent care for the dying instead of physician-assisted suicide. N Engl J Med. 1997;336(1):54–58
  4. Wilson KG, Scott JF, Graham ID, et al. Attitudes of terminally ill patients toward euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Arch Intern Med. 2000;160(16):2454–2460
  5. Breitbart W, Rosenfeld B, Pessin H, et al. Depression, hopelessness, and desire for hastened death in terminally ill patients with cancer. JAMA. 2000;284(22):2907–2911
  6. Kelly B, Burnett P, Pelusi D, et al. Factors associated with the wish to hasten death: a study of patients with terminal illness. Psychol Med. 2003;33(1):75–81
  7. Rosenfeld B, Breitbart W, Stein K, et al. Measuring desire for death among patients with HIV/AIDS: the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death. Am J Psychiatry. 1999;156(1):94–100
  8. Chochinov HM, Wilson KG, Enns M, et al. Desire for death in the terminally ill. Am J Psychiatry. 1995;152(8):1185–1191
  9. Morita T, Sakaguchi Y, Hirai K, Tsuneto S, Shima Y. Desire for death and requests to hasten death of Japanese terminally ill cancer patients receiving specialized inpatient palliative care. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2004;27(1):44–52
  10. Chochinov HM, Wilson KG, Enns M, Lander S. Depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation in the terminally ill. Psychosomatics. 1998;39(4):366–370
  11. McClain CS, Rosenfeld B, Breitbart W. Effect of spiritual well-being on end-of-life despair in terminally-ill cancer patients. Lancet. 2003;361(9369):1603–1607
  12. Chochinov HM, Hack T, Hassard T, et al. Understanding the will to live in patients nearing death. Psychosomatics. 2005;46(1):7–10
  13. Chochinov HM, Tataryn D, Clinch JJ, Dudgeon D. Will to live in the terminally ill. Lancet. 1999;354(9181):816–819
  14. Chochinov HM, Tataryn DJ, Wilson KG, Ennis M, Lander S. Prognostic awareness and the terminally ill. Psychosomatics. 2000;41(6):500–504
  15. McClain-Jacobson C, Rosenfeld B, Kosinski A, et al. Belief in an afterlife, spiritual well-being and end-of-life despair in patients with advanced cancer. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2004;26(6):484–486
  16. Breitbart W, Gibson C, Poppito SR, Berg A. Psychotherapeutic interventions at the end of life: a focus on meaning and spirituality. Can J Psychiatry. 2004;49(6):366–372
  17. Chochinov HM, Hack T, Hassard T, et al. Dignity and psychotherapeutic considerations in end-of-life care. J Palliat Care. 2004;20(3):134–142

PII: S0163-8343(05)00058-7

doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2005.04.002

General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 27, Issue 4 , Pages 256-257 , July 2005