A patient-therapist's reaction to her therapist's serious illness

Clinical attention to a crisis in the therapist's life has been scant. Both therapist and patient are touched by a significant occurrence in the therapist's life. Impact on the psychotherapy process is unavoidable. This paper traces the patient's (who is also a therapist) reactions, feelings, thoughts, and experiences in response to her therapist's acute cardiac illness. These include denial, abandonment, anger, compassion, and concern. Writing as patient, the author is re-reminded of the importance therapists hold in their patients' lives. She discusses her concurrent distancing from the psychotherapy process and the depth of her involvement in it. Writing as therapist, she raises salient questions for the clinician, offers recommendations stemming from her experience, comments about transference components of the relationship and discusses the place of the real relationship. Included is a brief review of the limited literature on the subject.