The psychological challenge of paediatric organ transplantation: gift and incorporation

The specific feature of organ transplantation is the confronta- tion of the patient with a body part not being his own and coming from somebody else. Thus the psychological challenge of trans- plantation will be the gift and incorporation of the graft. The given organ confronts the patients with mental manifesta- tions related to emotions of grieving and guilt, most constantly directed to the donor himself. It can also cause a fantastical imag- ination related to the idea of having to some extent inherited the character of the donor. This very special gift relationship has to be questioned, as it can be interpreted in terms of a tyranny of the dept. A dept the recipient will never be able to reimburse. In this context the contribution of sociological knowledge is determining. It makes it possible to reconsider the problem, and to discover that a gift relationship offers transplant patients much vaster possibilities than a materialistic conception of the gift, based on the dept, would do. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2004, 67, 184-187).