The meaning of life-threatening disease in the area of the head and neck.
The revelation that one has a life-threatening disease creates a sentient flood of emotions that infuse the patient with fear, confusion and depression. It contains the spectrum of pain, suffering, deterioration of life-style, crippling and possible annihilation. This burden falls first on the patient and his family, and then on his doctor. The drama is a dilemma of cure or palliation wrapped about the emotional core of that person with science, drugs, technology, mysticism and hope. The ongoing process is the most dynamic encounter of being alive, and before it is finished will have used and drained a large percentage of the vulnerable emotions that identify our humanness. An overview of these involvements as they relate to the area of the head and neck shows how complex the process has become, the remoteness of its solution and the truth of its experience.
Conley
J
J
D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D010358:Patient Participation