Polyvalence et ambivalence du psychologue en soins palliatifs

Practice of the psychologist in palliative care, either within the framework of a palliative care mobile team, unit or network, is never isolated and will always be considered in methods of intervention with patients, relatives and care teams, which question the place of psychology in the end of life and, from an ethical point of view, so that the place of the psychologist will be polyvalent but not ambivalent. In an interdisciplinary context that we define, and in which the intervention of the psychologist and the teams of palliative care can sometimes be associated with a medical prescription, we will see that the psychologist can preserve his professional autonomy, while taking part, as well as the other professionals, in a common plan of action to the profit of the patient. We analyse here the methods of the psychologist's intervention, from two complementary approaches, as well both the functional level and chronological; binomial (that of the psychologist with a doctor or a nurse) and individual psychological aid of the patient, when he is in request and capacity to continue it.