Dying Well: The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music at End of Life

Abstract

This case study demonstrates the role of The Bonny Method in addressing psychosocial, spiritual, and existential issues particular to end of life, and in the subsequent peaceful death experience of a 47 year old palliative cancer patient. In reviewing her final 8 months of life, the case study demonstrates the patient’s willingness to explore her emotions of shame related to having cancer, fears of the cancer metastasizing, and the grief and sadness common to anticipatory grief and to a traumatic incident that she experienced as a youth. It demonstrates how she was able to reconcile relationships with family members prior to death, as well as acknowledge her part in this conflict. It shows how she drew insight from the sessions to direct her own course of treatment, resulting in an increased sense of control. Lastly, this case study demonstrates both archetypal imagery and imagery that reflects the dying process, augmented by poetry written by the patient as a further means of expressing and understanding her experience.