PUBLIC TALK: Where Do We Find Hope When Facing A Terminal Illness?

A public lecture by Paivi Hietanen, oncologist and psychotherapist, Helsinki.

As an oncologist and psychotherapist Paivi Hietanen has met many cancer patients and their family members who struggle with anxiety and depression when facing a life threatening illness. Her lecture will deal with the following questions: How do people find hope when life's order is replaced by disorder and loss of basic trust? What roles do significant others play? What happens to relationships?

In this lecture, Dr Hietanen will refer to research that was conducted by interviewing seriously ill patients and their relatives to detect different mental maneuvers they used as a way of creating hope. She will frame this in the context of her long clinical experience.

This lecture is part of the 2016 Institute of Advanced Studies' Medical Humanities Public Lecture Series and is co-sponsored with the School of Primary, Aboriginal and Rural Health Care, UWA.