Hypothetical Scenario-what would you tell this patient?

[SourceOfDenial]

I feel like a lot of people, even if they hated their relative, would feel beholden to the rest of society and not necessarily feel any more ownership over the materials/documents as anyone else—theyve become things that have mattered to one subsection of one part of one society.

But, there would be something wonderfully subversive to destroy these materials too. Everything dies and decays, including monuments, documents, photos. The opportunity to acknowledge that and work in that space feels kinda freeing.

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[Goro]

Imo no. Treatment of the patient comes second only to the physician's personal safety. Personally, if a piece of history can be saved by helping a patient deal with underlying issues and finding healthier/more beneficial ways to cope, then great. I don't think History should come before the patient's well-being though.

Layman's question: Would the patient be harmed, or at greater risk of harm by giving the opinion that the works should be, say, donated to a museum?

 

[nexus73]

Layman's question: Would the patient be harmed, or at greater risk of harm by giving the opinion that the works should be, say, donated to a museum?

I think the harm would be lost rapport or treatment alignment between the patient and physician, and long term this could slow or stall the patient's progress...if they're always worried you are judging their decisions critically.

 

[Stagg737]

Layman's question: Would the patient be harmed, or at greater risk of harm by giving the opinion that the works should be, say, donated to a museum?

Agree with Nexus on this one. The priority is the patient's well-being. I don't think it's inappropriate to gently suggest the patient do something constructive with the items or to explore why they're using what is almost certainly a destructive and malignant coping mechanism to handle this situation (and if they do so in other areas of life). However, there's a difference between suggestion and exploration of self vs. giving the patient directives in regards to what to do with their own property, the latter of which I think is pretty much always crossing a line.

Just my two cents and others may have a different perspective. I think almost everyone would agree that the patient's well-being takes the higher priority though.

 

[whopper]

I came to a new insight on this case.

What's going on is my patient loves and hates her mom. It's her mom, and her mom is a hateful person who regularly physically and emotionally abused by my patient as a child. An ongoing issue is that my patient hasn't been able to reach that type of milestone where she can just cut off her mom despite the mother's continued emotional abuse.

Due to the mother's poor health the patient gets a guilt trip when not making sure mother is alright, but when she sees her mother she is re-exposed to the mother's emotional abuse. The patient hasn't been able to do the adolescent tradition of making the emotional break from their parents.

So what I'm going to do is try to focus on the symbolism her mother has on her and try to get her to break free of the emotional control her mother exerts. The items are safe for now but I've already figured I've spun that wheel in my head 100x times and can only do what I already mentioned.