The role of psychologists at the end of life care is becoming critical in the psychology and medical field. The concept of a good death that is emphasized by people such as Lauren Vogel is creating a situation where there is a need to help terminally ill-patient end their life journey in a dignified manner. People like Vogel claim that people should die at least worst death, and this brings in need of psychological nourishment for terminal ill patients. As a developmental psychologist, there are specific areas a person needs to focus on to help a terminally ill patient die a dignified death. The first one is emotional development. As a psychologist, helping a patient to manage emotions is critical at this point. A point, emotional is investable because in most cases, the patients feel close to their death. They tend to be aggressive in some situation or too emotional ( Putt et al., 2017). Help them develop some emotionalrésistance that stem from mental stretch to manage their situation would help them have strengths to face their end of life care.
Other than emotional management, helping these patients develop the strength to fight depression and anxiety that brings about aggression is essential in enhancing acceptance to end of life care. Depression and anxiety due to pain and reality of someone's terminal illness and situation sometimes translate to stress that makes it difficult for a person to accept the end of life care. Helping a patient at this stage develop mental strength to face such issues and manage them well can have an impact on whether the patient accepts or reject the end of life care ( Rubin et al., 2015). Lastly, helping the patient develop the ability to endure pain and also coming up with strategies to reduce pain can even help this individual's approach the end of life care with some positive mindset.
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References
Putt, K., Faville, K. A., Lewis, D., McAllister, K., Pietro, M., &Radwan, A. (2017). Role of physical therapy intervention in patients with life-threatening illnesses: a systematic review. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine® , 34 (2), 186-196.
Rubin, G., Berendsen, A., Crawford, S. M., Dommett, R., Earle, C., Emery, J., ...& Hamilton, W. (2015). The expanding role of primary care in cancer control. The Lancet Oncology , 16 (12), 1231-1272.
