Abstract
While awaiting an ambulance after sustaining a grave injury in a sudden, terrifying automobile accident, Jon Krapfl mentally prepared for death. The ambulance attendants wanted him to remain hopeful and hesitated to tell him that his neck was broken. By sharing his intense fear of imminent death, Jon managed to obtain the information he sought. During his lengthy rehabilitation, Jon experienced sharp, insistent pain, felt he was losing his mind due to intrusive hallucinations, found it hard to accept his injury and physical limitations, and ruminated about how his wife and children would confront his disability. Jon faced these issues effectively and eventually returned to his job as a professor of psychology at the University of West Virginia. He later construed the forced review of his life as a “freeing experience” and came to see his ordeal as having “enriched my life.”12
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Moos, R.H., Schaefer, J.A. (1986). Life Transitions and Crises. In: Moos, R.H. (eds) Coping with Life Crises. The Springer Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7021-5_1
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