ABSTRACT
The physiological needs of terminal patients are more clearly defined and understood than the emotional stresses the dying person experiences. The needs of people who are in the ultimate process of dying can be broadly considered within two major categories: the physiological, and the psychological. When threatened by catastrophic disease, a person's whole life is thrown into an emotional tailspin which precedes, accompanies and compounds the subsequent process of physical discomfort and deterioration. The practitioner is challenged to provide an anchor of emotional stability through therapeutic intervention while the patient fights for life and struggles to maintain self-hood. A person who is dying is in the process of experiencing total loss. To lose everything and everyone, including oneself, imposes a tremendous emotional burden on a terminal patient. Patients in a truly therapeutic environment sense when others are sufficiently aware of their needs to allow the patient the emotional space that he requires at a given time.
