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| Alaine Polcz. Photo: MTI |
Polcz was born in an ethnic Hungarian region of Romania, but she studied at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, taking her degree in psychology in 1949. In the same year she married the writer Miklós Mészöly.
Polcz began her career practising art therapy with mentally ill adults. Later she started to use playing as a diagnostic tool for children with mental problems.
Her work with children led her to become a counsellor for terminally ill children and their families. During this period, she published works on children's perception of dying which have become basic texts for health care professionals.
Polcz went on to found the Hungarian Hospice Movement and to chair the Hungarian Hospice Foundation.
Polcz recorded her experiences in the novel Asszony a fronton (Woman on the Front), which won the Book of the Year Award in 1991. She was recognised again in 1992 for her writing with the Déry Tibor Award.
In recognition of her work on new methods of diagnosing children with psychological and nervous disorders and her efforts to aid the terminally ill, Polcz was awarded the Order of the Hungarian Republic.
Before she died, Polcz said she wished to take leave of her mortal life with these words from Psalm 42: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
