Dignity therapy allows individuals to reflect on existential concerns, find meaning and purpose in their lives, and create a legacy document that encapsulates their life stories and values.
Authors
Fayaz Ahmad Paul, Research Scholar, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, Assam, India.
Arif Ali, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Aasim Ur Rehman Ganie, Assistant Professor, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat Haryana, India.
Summary
Dignity therapy (DT) is a one-of-a-kind, noninvasive, and practical therapeutic approach that can help patients with end-stage illnesses. DT is a therapeutically meaningful technique to repair and promote fundamental but damaged components of the self, and it produces creative records that outlive the patient’s death.
DT focuses on tasks that preserve dignity, such as resolving relationships, expressing affection, sharing words of love, and establishing legacies of memory and shared ideals. These efforts become even more important as a person nears death. Studies have confirmed that DT improves patients’ quality of life, validates their personhood, increases their sense of meaning and purpose, and lowers their levels of demoralization and existential suffering.
Published in: Asian Journal of Psychiatry
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