Transpersonal Therapy Combined with Best Supportive Care In Hospice Improve Patient’s Quality of Life and Quality Of Death

The experience of dying is extremely difficult both for patients and families. The time at the end of life is different for each person. Transpersonal medicine is particular useful in this context because of the possibilities to overcome the boundaries from the perception of personality and identity towards the perception of unity: this is a modified state of consciousness, peak experience, very useful to guide subjects in the uncertainty of death and dying. Methods: Transpersonal psychotherapeutic model applied in our Oncological Hospice is originated by J. Grossman’s work with main-body-spiritual approach, bioenergetics, breathing, deep meditation in modified state of consciousness and peak experiences induction. 26 terminal ill patients with their caregivers were studied in Hospice and 50% of them received a transpersonal treatment of preparation to death and 50% constituted control group. Patients quality of life (QoL) and quality of death (QoD) were evaluated by visual analogical scales according to Curtis-Smith criteria, modified, and administered to health care staff. Pain, pharmacological sedation and state of consciousness before the end of life were also valuated. Results: 26 patients, that received best supportive care, were divided in a study transpersonal group (13 patients) and a control group (13 patients). QoL improved in transpersonal patients group (5.39±0.87) with respect to controls (4.5±1.13) with significative difference (p=0.035) QoD improved in transpersonal patients group (5.95±0.94) respect to controls (5.09±1.11) with significative difference (p=0.045). No significant differences were observed for the other parameters. Conclusion: Verbal interventions are frequently inapplicable in dying patients. Other methods, like transpersonal, that use modified state of consciousness, are necessary. Our data show that receiving specific transpersonal intervention allows patients to approach death with better QoL and to live quietly the experience of dying (improvement of QoD score), with respect to those patients in the control group. All patients received best supportive care. This research is in progress, but suggest the usefulness of this method in this extremely difficult clinical context.