Biomaterial Database

Denial: coping or cop-out? 1994

M Murray, and L Neilson

Health caregivers working with palliative patients in the home are able to establish closer relationships with these patients than in the palliative hospital setting. Since a familiar and comfortable setting helps set the stage for effective communication, it is not surprising that home care patients and their families often share intimate thoughts and feelings with visiting caregivers. Yet that same closeness can make it more difficult for a home caregiver to accept a patient's denial of impending death. While agreeing that, in theory, denial is a normal defence mechanism, the home caregiver may have become too emotionally involved to appreciate denial as a particular patient's choice.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009723	Nurse-Patient Relations	Interaction between the patient and nurse.	Nurse Patient Relations,Nurse Patient Relationship,Nurse Patient Relationships,Nurse-Patient Relation,Patient Relations, Nurse,Patient Relationship, Nurse,Patient Relationships, Nurse,Relations, Nurse Patient,Relations, Nurse-Patient,Relationship, Nurse Patient,Relationships, Nurse Patient
D010166	Palliative Care	Care alleviating symptoms without curing the underlying disease. (Stedman, 25th ed)	Palliative Treatment,Palliative Supportive Care,Palliative Surgery,Palliative Therapy,Surgery, Palliative,Therapy, Palliative,Care, Palliative,Palliative Treatments,Supportive Care, Palliative,Treatment, Palliative,Treatments, Palliative
D003717	Denial, Psychological	Refusal to admit the truth or reality of a situation or experience.	Denial, Psychology,Psychological Denial
D004645	Empathy	An individual's objective and insightful awareness of the feelings and behavior of another person. It should be distinguished from sympathy, which is usually nonobjective and noncritical. It includes caring, which is the demonstration of an awareness of and a concern for the good of others. (From Bioethics Thesaurus, 1992)	Caring,Compassion
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000223	Adaptation, Psychological	A state of harmony between internal needs and external demands and the processes used in achieving this condition. (From APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed).	Behavior, Adaptive,Healthy Adaptation,Positive Adaptation,Psychological Recovery,Adaptation, Psychologic,Adjustment,Psychological Adaptation,Adaptation, Healthy,Adaptation, Positive,Adaptive Behavior,Adaptive Behaviors,Healthy Adaptations,Positive Adaptations,Psychologic Adaptation,Psychological Recoveries,Recovery, Psychological