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Living While Palliative: The Experience of Ontological Insecurity

Annette M Lane

The purpose of this article is to examine the concept of ontological insecurity. Ontological insecurity involves anxiety and insecurity, feeling destabilized and disoriented in regard to the relationship with self, and that one is no longer effective in the world. The term ontological insecurity was coined by R.D. Laing to represent those with schizophrenia. Others have used this term to describe the experiences of those with mental illness, breast cancer and dementia. Within this piece, I first describe what this concept entails, then offer a short literature review of the contexts within which ontological security has been examined, and then describe how ontological insecurity has impacted my life with Stage 4 breast cancer. Ontological insecurity is a normal response to extreme life experiences, such as being a palliative patient with cancer. Other concepts, such as temporality, bifurcation of consciousness, and the balance of doing and being, can help those with ontological insecurity to understand what they are experiencing, as well as help those who are assisting these individuals. The term ontological insecurity is very helpful to understand what palliative patients are undergoing