ABSTRACT
At a euthanasia conference held at Colorado State University, the well-meaning but misguided planners had scheduled a session with a psychologist to teach the participants techniques of stress management that they could employ when faced with the stresses of their jobs. For example, the psychologist advised them to relax during the actual killing by imagining some pleasant scene, such as a desert island. Needless to say, this suggestion evoked considerable hostility. The moral stress is not only internal, but external; with more and more people raising questions about the legitimacy of the research enterprise, it is difficult not to feel morally insecure about what one does. This is somewhat true of shelter workers as well. Members of both groups have told me repeatedly that they hide the nature of their work from friends and even family, and are often criticized for it by people close to them who know what they do. Such a situation is clearly untenable.
