ABSTRACT
The common thread among the arenas is existence with our patients on the precarious border of illness and health, life and death. Issues are tapped for clinicians who work in medical art therapy that are unlikely to be experienced by others in the field. Paramount for a medical art therapist is the reality of human vulnerability to disability, disease, decline, and ultimately death. Even with assurances regarding safety, there should be an exploration of feelings about working with infectious patients. Death of patients is an ongoing reality in medicine, particularly in palliative care programs and hospice settings. The constant confrontation with the finiteness of well-being is a dimension unlike any other. The special issues for the art therapist in medicine run a spectrum of modified interventions, protective appearance, and selective extending of oneself for effective termination. With sufficient self-care, emotional and physical, there is particular compassion satisfaction regardless of the specific medical application.
