Imposed termination of psychotherapy and its relation to death and mourning

For the psychotherapist unilaterally to impose a termination date to therapy is a manoeuvre not often discussed; but with some patients it may be the only way of forcing critical issues into the open. The patient's position is then analogous to that of a bereaved mourner or someone with a terminal illness, and a sequence of responses can be observed identical to that which occurs in those cases. A detailed clinical example illustrates this. There appears to be a specific developmental task common to all such situations which is called forth by them. Subjecting a patient to this is a drastic measure; the therapist's difficulty in deciding whether to do so is considered in relation to transference and counter-transference.