A Case Study of Self-Actualization in a 29-Year-Old Man with Advanced Cancer: Palliative care through Sandplay Counseling

This study is a case of a 29-year-old male diagnosed with advanced cancer (stage 4 colon cancer). The client came for counseling due to anxiety about uncertainty such as surgery, chemotherapy, and fear of death after being diagnosed with cancer. The theory applied self-actualization (individualization process) based on Jung’s analytical psychology. The four stages of self-actualization are for an individual to understand his or her inner world and find the true ‘me’. The first stage (session 6) is ‘differentiation from persona’, the second stage (sessions 7-8) is ‘consciousness of the shadow’. The third stage (sessions 9-13) is ‘fusion with anima’, and the fourth stage (sessions 14-15) is ‘self-actualization (individualization process)’. The client entered a world of light. With 3 months left until death, he integrated tconflicting things in the last 10th session of the sandbox. In this study, the client went to heaven. Through sand play counseling, the client’s anxiety and fear about death were alleviated, and he was able to accept death naturally and comfortably and organize his mind well. The client ended up with a “sacred marriage with death” as the wholeness of self-realization that had meaning.