Doctoral project on the concept of "terminal lucidity

Search for a structure likely to support a CIFRE agreement for a research field in Île-de-France.

Jean-François SOULIER holds a Master II in Health - course Research in Palliative Medicine, with experience as a caregiver in a palliative care unit.
As part of a thesis project planned for January 2027 with the EPIC doctoral school and the Parcours Santé Systémique (P2S) Lyon 1 research unit, he would like to collaborate with an association or organization attached to a CHU likely to support a CIFRE agreement, as the CHU has a palliative care unit and an intensive care unit to carry out his research fieldwork.
Her project focuses on the concept of "Terminal Lucidity" and states of (re)awakening from coma, with a view to comparatively analyzing their cognitive and motor reversibilities and assessing whether they are part of a common or differentiated psychodynamic process. As part of this CIFRE agreement, he is looking for a team based in the Île-de-France region to provide scientific support.
A detailed pre-project is available

Summary:
Some healthcare professionals report the appearance of cognitive or physiological "bursts of energy" shortly before the death of patients.
Named "Terminal Lucidity" (LT) since 2009, this phenomenon raises questions: to what extent is it relevant to compare this concept with the episodes of post-coma awakening or reawakening observed in intensive care?
The central hypothesis is that we may be facing the same revival process, of a psychodynamic nature, aiming to restore homeostasis against a threatened identity background.
To support this argument, this research will adopt a comparative qualitative methodology, mobilizing micro-phenomenology and thematic analysis according to levels of Doise.
It will draw on narratives from caregivers and relatives witnessing LT in a palliative care unit (PCU), set against those of clinical psychologists and, above all, "expert" patients who have been through a coma in intensive care (REA).
The aim is to identify possible recurrences in symbolic languages and post-coma physiological dynamics, likely to shed light on ante-mortem "bursts of energy" as the expression of a common mechanism of emergence. Beyond these theoretical contributions, the aim of this work is to offer patients a space for expression, in order to raise awareness among care providers and families of the existence of an active underlying psychic work in the context of altered consciousness. It also seeks to foster multidisciplinary exchanges between two departments confronted with so-called "extreme" clinics in order to better understand these atypical but probably natural end-of-life experiences.

Contact:
Jean-François SOULIER
jean-francois.soulier2@wanadoo.fr