July/August 2011

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Editor's Note

Rich Simon

As the writers in this issue powerfully demonstrate, medical science has made extended dying and its impact on relatives and loved ones—what psychologist Joseph Nowinski, in the issue’s cover story, calls “the new grief. . . the gritty business of living with slow death”—increasingly common, even normal.

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The New Grief

The New Grief

Long, Long Day's Journey Into Night

Joseph Nowinski

The increasing ability of modern medicine to arrest or slow terminal illness means that never before has death been such an extended process for so many. But as a culture, we’re only just beginning to face the deep ambivalence that reality creates for both patient and family. Read More
Is Enough Ever Enough

Is Enough Ever Enough?

The Right-to-Die Debate

Jordan Magaziner

We’re living longer and longer, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that we’d choose to live through a painful terminal illnesses. Do we have the right to choose? Should we? Read More
Hospital screens

Unhappy Endings

Death as Technology’s Slave

Katy Butler

A perverse set of financial incentives within the medical system too often leads to the promotion of maximum treatment, no matter what. When this happens, patients and families may no longer be the beneficiaries of the war on sudden death, becoming its victims. Read More
Goodbye

Goodbye

Each of Us Owes the Universe a Death

Fred Wistow

In a very dark corner of each of our minds is a voice that says, “I’m going to die. One day, I’m going to die.” How we react to this voice determines how we live our lives. Read More

Extra Feature

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The Stories We Live

In therapy—as in Fiction—There’s Always Possibility

David Seaburn

Both doing psychotherapy and the writing of fiction are about stories. The essence of the art of both pursuits is the openness to the possibility that, no matter how small, no matter how fleeting, things might not only be different, but, perhaps, better. Read More

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