Chapter 12 "Being Held Back" Summary and Analysis

Dying patients often face impending death with agitation and emotional pain. They frequently ask for help via the cryptic comment that they are being held back. In general, these brief statements focus on the death process being 'stuck' at some point, thwarting a peaceful death. In essence, the dying person's comments about being held back are a subtle plea for assistance in reviewing, once more, the social situation surrounding their death. The chapter offers six case studies of individuals who felt their death was being held back; in these cases, the patient wanted to die and was physically hovering on death's door but was unable to let go of life. The patients exhibited agitation and emotional pain and their requests for assistance were generally cryptic, subtle, and very brief though in general repeated...