{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,2]],"date-time":"2026-03-02T15:53:27Z","timestamp":1772466807695,"version":"3.50.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.5964\/ejop.19089","type":"correction","label":"Correction","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772150400000}}],"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID)","issue":"Special Issue","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,28]],"date-time":"2025-11-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764288000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["ejop.psychopen.eu"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Eur. J. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The universal awareness of death is central to the framework of existential psychology. However, its subjective confrontation remains deeply personal. Marilyn Yalom (1938\u20132019), distinguished feminist scholar and cultural historian, documented her intimate reflections on dying in a book co-authored with her husband, Irvin Yalom, renowned existential psychotherapist and author. This single-case psychobiography sought to examine her experience, focusing on her diarised reflections on living with and dying from a terminal illness in this book as the primary data source. Data analysis examined Marilyn\u2019s reflections through the lens of Irving Yalom\u2019s existential psychotherapy propositions to construct a theoretically informed overview of her experiences. Given her observation of feeling prepared to face death as a concept, as opposed to dying as a process, thematic analysis uncovered additional insights regarding this transition. Traditionally, psychobiographies explore the lives of significant figures in their entirety, and few have focused specifically on an individual\u2019s confrontation with death. The findings are presented within the framework of the four existential concerns, and additional experiential themes are conceptualised as end-of-life variations of lifelong existential concerns. These illuminated underexplored concerns, such as the process of detaching from loved ones, physician-assisted suicide as an expression of autonomy, and the potential for pain and impairment to re-awaken the crises of isolation and meaninglessness. Practice recommendations are made from the findings, in line with Marilyn and Irving Yalom\u2019s goal of contributing to a broader discourse on end-of-life concerns, as Marilyn endeavoured to fight against despair and live meaningfully until the very end.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.5964\/ejop.19089","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,28]],"date-time":"2025-11-28T10:19:21Z","timestamp":1764325161000},"page":"309-318","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5964\/psychopen.cmp","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Psychobiographical reflections on Marilyn Yalom\u2019s experience of death and dying"],"prefix":"10.5964","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-0503-4268","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carla","family":"Nel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1941","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"r1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-6494.1988.tb00469.x"},{"key":"r2","unstructured":"Alexander, I. 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Yalom, Innocent witnesses: Childhood memories of World War II (pp. vii\u2013xiv). Redwood Press."},{"key":"r8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/j.eurpsy.2024.157"},{"key":"r9","unstructured":"Feifel, H. (1969). Death: A relevant variable in psychology. In R. May (Ed.), Existential psychology (2nd ed., pp. 58\u201371). Random House."},{"key":"r10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/14330237.2014.980622"},{"key":"r11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/20797222.2018.1511308"},{"key":"r12","unstructured":"Frank, M. L. B. (2022). Existential theory. In D. Capuzzi & M. Stauffer (Eds.), Counseling and psychotherapy (7th ed., pp 117\u2013137). American Counseling Association."},{"key":"r13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Harry, T., & van Niekerk, R. (2023). Tragic optimism: A psychobiography of Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. In C.-H. Mayer, R. van Niekerk, P. J. P. Fouch\u00e9 & J. G. Ponterotto (Eds.), Beyond WEIRD: Psychobiography in times of transcultural and transdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 67\u201383). Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-28827-2_5"},{"key":"r14","unstructured":"Kenrick, C. (2021, June 9). What matters in the end? Couple chronicles life\u2019s final chapter in new book. The Almanac. https:\/\/www.almanacnews.com\/news\/2021\/06\/09\/what-matters-in-the-end-couple-chronicle-lifes-final-chapter-in-new-book\/"},{"key":"r15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"K\u0151v\u00e1ry, Z. (2024). A history of Existential Psychology: Volume I. Taylor & Francis.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781032703107"},{"key":"r16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/scs.70047"},{"key":"r17","unstructured":"May, R. (1969). Existential bases of psychotherapy. In R. May (Ed.), Existential psychology  (2nd ed., pp. 72\u201383). 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Marilyn Yalom, 1932\u20132019: Tributes paid to a pioneering feminist scholar who \u2018made conversation glitter\u2019. Times Higher Education.https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/people\/marilyn-yalom-1932-2019"},{"key":"r25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18772\/22019032750.16"},{"key":"r26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaging.2022.101028"},{"key":"r27","unstructured":"Yalom, I. D. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. Basic Books."},{"key":"r28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yalom, I. D., & Yalom, M. (2021). A matter of death and life: Love, loss and what matters in the end. 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