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Toi Staff
Tarik Cyril Amar
Sharona Margolin Halickman
Andrew Mitrovica
Penny S. Tee
Gideon Levy
John Nosta
Jennifer Gerlach Lcsw
Pope Francis’ death right after Easter sounds miraculous – but patients and caregivers often work together to delay dying
On the morning of Easter Monday, after his final public address the day prior, Pope Francis died at age 88, closing 12 years of leading the Catholic Church. He joins the phenomena of people “holding on” until after an anticipated date or event, such as the holidays or a birthday, before dying.
It sometimes seems like some patients are able to stay alive out of sheer willpower. But for many people, behind the scenes are a village of people and an ongoing series of conversations that help patients be able to celebrate their child’s graduation or travel to a place they’ve always wanted to go.
We asked Dr. Michelle Riba, director of the psycho-oncology program at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, to explain how meaning matters just as much as medicine at the end of life.
Psychosocial factors that affect a person’s mental health and well-being – such as stress, social support, depression and anxiety, and socioeconomic status – play an important part of all parts of life, but especially at the end of life. End of life refers to the days, weeks or months after somebody is told that they have a disease that can be fatal.
Questions about meaning and what’s important to a patient and their family are important at all times. But when somebody is diagnosed with a grave illness, these questions become particularly important to acknowledge in medical conversations. As many doctors like to say, patients aren’t the disease, they have a disease.
We want to give patients control about how they want to live their lives in the most meaningful way, especially at the end. And this includes how they want to use their time, energy and resources, who they want to spend their time with and where they want to be.
There was a new movement starting in the 1960s to 1970s that believed a person’s attitude and outlook on life could affect their health and longevity. People like minister Norman Vincent Peale promoted the idea that a positive mindset could help improve outcomes. Psychologist Martin Seligman........
© The Conversation
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