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A significant part of my psychoanalytic identity is the writing that accompanies my practice. When I suddenly became ill two years ago with acute myeloid leukemia, I was forced to shut down my practice the day I received the diagnosis. It was a never-to-be-forgotten doctor's visit to receive blood work results after a full day of patients. In the months that followed, prolonged hospitalizations and a bone marrow transplant ensued. Informing my patients in person of the need to stop working was not possible—there was no time. Instead, I spoke with each on the telephone from my hospital bed. When I resumed my life and my practice I made the decision that I would not write about my illness. I knew that writing would thrust me back into the experience of illness, and I wanted to move far away from that in my mind. When I was invited to review this book, Flirting with Death, I was one year out from my return to life and work. For me, writing on this topic now might better be titled Flirted with Death. Approaching the second anniversary of my diagnosis, I feel at a safer distance, one that does not have to bring the immediacy of illness and dying, and now I am interested to read how colleagues bring their minds to illness, to facing death in themselves, and in others.
Flirting with Death, edited by Corinne Masur, is a collection of essays, all related to mortality but in different ways. Many of the contributors are renowned senior analysts who bring their courage to express their thoughts on this difficult topic. They disclose aspects of their personal lives, their histories, their experiences with integrity and professional reflection in ways that invite readers to engage in their own reflections.