Dying in hospital during the covid-19 pandemic: Bonds and unbinding at the end of life
Pages 105 to 117
Cite this article
- LOUCHARD CHARDON, Christine,
- PEYSSELON, Loréna
- and ALLOMBERT-BLAISE, Jérôme,
- Louchard Chardon, Christine.,
- et al.
- Louchard Chardon, C.,
- Peysselon, L.
- and Allombert-Blaise, J.
https://doi.org/10.3917/nrp.041.0105
Cite this article
- Louchard Chardon, C.,
- Peysselon, L.
- and Allombert-Blaise, J.
- Louchard Chardon, Christine.,
- et al.
- LOUCHARD CHARDON, Christine,
- PEYSSELON, Loréna
- and ALLOMBERT-BLAISE, Jérôme,
https://doi.org/10.3917/nrp.041.0105
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a substantial reorganization of healthcare delivery, placing significant demands on professionals involved in end-of-life care. What were the psychic dynamics at play in the caregiver-care recipient relationship? What defenses did the professionals have to mobilize? The authors—a geriatrician, a nurse, and a clinical psychologist working in a geriatric medicine unit—analyze how these extreme conditions revealed both the resources and vulnerabilities of caregivers in the face of death. Employing a case study methodology within a clinical and psychoanalytic framework, the study highlights essential factors for both patients and professionals during the transition from life to death. The findings indicate that, beyond the concept of death itself, it is the fear of psychic collapse and the activation of archaic anxieties that structure relational processes in this critical period.