ABSTRACT
Several years ago, during the course of therapy, a patient developed cancer and died. Subsequently, the therapist wrote a paper which discussed the course of the illness and how the group helped the patient, whose name was Jim, to face death (Furgeri, 1978). Although the patient had been helped to face death, he had become physically ill during therapy. The question of why the patient, a physically healthy man at the start of therapy, developed cancer plagued the therapist. Slowly, it began to appear that the treatment had failed; the operation had been a success, but the patient had died. As this thought began to take hold, the therapist recollected how patients seem to develop symptoms or illnesses as they are making drastic shifts in their lifestyles. When some patients are on the verge of major breakthroughs, usually involving separations from old patterns or systems, a serious mishap or hospitalization may occur.
