Stages
Each patient reacts differently to the news of carrying a terminal illness such as cancer. In general, almost all patients go through various stages of acceptance when a disease like cancer has been diagnosed.
The first stage is disbelief. Most people are shocked that it could happen to them, there is extreme anxiety especially about the unknown. Shock, despair and anger are common. There is also guilt that perhaps the person has done something wrong to receive such a diagnosis. Some individuals use humor as a psychological defense mechanism; others become helpless and often start to bargain. This first stage usually lasts from a few days to a few weeks.
The second stage is depression which is usually a reaction to the diagnosis. The depression is mild to moderate in intensity and needs family support. Only in rare cases is any type of medical therapy required.
Duration of depression often can last several weeks but soon fades and the person goes into the final stage of acceptance.
Read more about this topic: Terminal Illness
Famous quotes containing the word stages:
“America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery....Child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experience by creating model situations and to master reality by experiment and planning.”
—Erik H. Erikson (20th century)
“Whoe’er has travelled life’s dull round,
Where’er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found
The warmest welcome, at an inn.”
—William Shenstone (1714–1763)