On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Miguel Roig wrote:
> During a casual conversation with my physician today, he lamented the absence
> of empirically based guidelines for counselling terminally ill patients.
> Having had some interest in issues of death and dying back in the 70s when I
> was an undergraduate (remember Kubler-Ross?) I thought that for sure there
> would be some research on these matters by now. So, I conducted a brief search
> for information using MedLine and PsychInfo but, to my surprise, I came up with
> little empirical research on effective counselling techniques for the
> terminally ill. Perhaps I am not using the correct search terms. In any
> event, is anyone aware of any such research? I would think that with the
> advent of the AIDS epidemic there would be some established guidelines in this
> area.
>
> Miguel
What exactly do you mean by guidelines?
What to say or what not to say?
How to behave or how not to behave?
Why not use the person's autobiograhical history as guidelines?
I have heard of Aids patients who celebrate their slow death
as occasions for parties.
El commandante Fidel Castro sees to it that Aids patients
in Cuba gets the medical care and good food.
My approach would be to help people to concentrate on the
"Eternal Now" instead of focusing on events which have
not happen.
Requiescat in Pace.
Michael Sylvester,PhD
Daytona Beach,Florida
