Symbolic Immortality and the End of Life: Lifton, Existential Phenomenology, and Therapeutic Presence

article

Christian Schulz-Quach

Abstract

Robert Jay Lifton’s underappreciated concept of symbolic immortality has become central to my work as an existential psychoanalyst, medical psychiatrist, and palliative care physician. This essay argues that Lifton’s five modes of symbolic immortality function not merely as theoretical concepts but as a framework for phenomenological inquiry and psychotherapeutic intervention in healthcare. Braiding Lifton with existential phenomenology, Terror Management Theory, Marvin Hurvich’s work on annihilation anxiety, and Robert Stolorow’s relational-phenomenological approach to death, loss, and emotional trauma, the author proposes how symbolic immortality may support clinicians and patients in addressing annihilation anxiety and reconstruct continuity in the face of finitude.

Keywords:

annihilation anxiety, being-with, death anxiety, emotional trauma, end-of-life care, Ernest Becker, existential phenomenology, Marvin Hurvich, palliative care, psychiatry, psychobiography, psychohistory, Robert Jay Lifton, Robert Stolorow, symbolic immortality, Terror Management Theory (TMT)

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About the author

Christian Schulz-Quach

Christian Schulz-Quach, M.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Medical Director of Workplace Violence Prevention at University Health Network, and Provincial Lead for Psychosocial Oncology at Ontario Health. An existential psychoanalyst trained at the Toronto Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, he has more than 20 years of experience in psychodynamic psychotherapy, palliative care, and medical psychiatry. His scholarship addresses phenomenology of death, meaning-making in serious illness, and existential dimensions of healthcare work. He can be contacted at .

How to cite this article

Schulz-Quach, C. (2026). Symbolic immortality and the end of life: Lifton, existential phenomenology, and therapeutic presence. Clio’s Psyche, 33(2), 160-168.

https://doi.org/10.70763/b93e78c67fd4ae3ee626d8ec0c412dec