ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the therapeutic interaction and on how death anxieties evoke adaptations by both patients and therapists in the course of a treatment experience. Several types of triggers, distinguished for the most part by degrees of evident connection to death, activate these issues in psychotherapy. The activation of a death-related triggering event may involve incidents and actions that are manifestly connected with death, such as illness, injury, loss, and death itself. The nature of the activating triggering event determines the form of death anxiety that is aroused. A patient's response to a death-related triggering event may be essentially adaptive or maladaptive. From the first thought of seeking therapy, a potential patient's death-related history, sensitivities, and issues affect the choice of a psychotherapist and treatment modality in many ways. A patient will convey a great deal about these death-related issues in the telephone call made to arrange for a consultation with the therapist.
