TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2001//
TI  - Therapeutic empathy with the suicidal wish: principles of therapy with suicidal individuals
JO  - American journal of psychotherapy
A1  - Orbach, I.
SP  - 166
EP  - 184
VL  - 55
IS  - 2
N2  - Several principles of therapeutic work with suicidal individuals are described. These principles represent different aspects of therapeutic empathy with the suicidal wish. They are based on a theoretical model that presents suicide as an end result of unbearable mental pain. Mental pain is believed to emerge from reciprocal interactions between biochemical imbalances, life stress, personality factors, pain-producing inner patterns (e.g., self-hate, sense of being dispensable), and facilitators and inhibitors of self-destructive behavior. The therapeutic approach is characterized by an empathic experiential encounter with the death wish, the pain-producing inner patterns, self-destructive tendencies, and the exploration of the most dreadful and frightening inner experiences. An empathic attitude toward the wish to die, coupled by an uncompromised confrontation of self-destructiveness, can provide the hope of discovering a path of compromise with life's difficulties.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0002-9564
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -