Counseling Persons with Parkinson's Disease by Allan Hugh Cole Jr.;

Author:Allan Hugh Cole Jr.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Premium
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Key Facts

Vocational concerns relate to questions of purpose, which get expressed in statements and questions pertaining to one’s values, identity, and goals, all of which may or may not center on one’s job, career, or other chosen life tasks.

Mortal Concerns

Few experiences raise your awareness of mortality, including your own finitude, more than a serious medical diagnosis. Although Parkinson’s disease is not fatal per se, it is progressive and debilitating, and, over time, many who have it will experience a loss of functioning that results in disability and significant health problems. Consequently, those living with Parkinson’s may focus their attention on what I am calling mortal concerns.

Mortal concerns have to do with three principal matters: (1) life after death, (2) how much of life is yet to be lived before death, and (3) whether life has been meaningful, faithful, and true—worthwhile, in other words. This focus suggests that mortal concerns relate closely to vital, relational, and vocational concerns.

Counselors frequently meet with persons for whom mortality weighs heavily on their minds, whether concerned for a loved one or for themselves. Many people think of death as terrifying, so much so that they seek to keep from thinking about it as much as possible, which has become normative in a North American context.

Three decades ago, a cultural anthropologist by the name of Ernest Becker observed just how terrified people are of death and the great efforts we take to avoid it. In fact, avoiding death and living fearfully in the midst of its eventuality become primary forces that influence how we live our lives. Introducing his book’s subject matter, Becker writes, “One of the great discoveries of modern thought: that of all things that move man, one of the principal ones is his terror of death.”30 If many people greatly fear death, some of them seek in counseling for a way to assuage their fear.

Most people think about mortality from time to time, about matters having to do with life, death, and life after death. However, again, those living with a chronic and progressive illness may think more often about mortality than ever before. This change has to do with living under the weight of the unknown, the search for resolution, and unanswerable but persistent questions, and, while the future is unknown, any perceived changes to one’s body or mind may become more pronounced than in those who do not have Parkinson’s or another chronic condition. In other words, a chronic illness may keep issues specific to loss and progressive deterioration squarely in front of you rather than receding as tends to happen for others—that is, healthy persons.

A person with Parkinson’s reveals mortal concerns when raising questions or sharing concerns such as:

• What do you think happens to us when we die?

• Do you believe in an afterlife?

• How do I know that I’ll be OK when I die?

• I worry about my soul. I think I need to change my ways.

• Is there such a thing as Heaven and Hell?

• Will I see my loved ones again?

• I’m afraid to get sick and die.

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