Living with Life-threatening Illness

The author provides a positive plan for improving the lives of seriously ill patients, their families and caregivers, outlining the tasks and issues they must face at each phase, and offering suggestions for effective coping.

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Serious illness inevitably involves the patient's entire family: every member suffers along with the one who has been diagnosed. Life-threatening illnesses consist of many phases: the pre-diagnostic period when people worry about symptoms; the crisis of diagnosis; the typically long-term of chronic illness; the issues that persist even in recovery; and, for some, the struggle of terminal stages. Doka emphasizes the experience of "living" with illness, rather than just its terminal phase. He provides a positive plan for improving the lives of seriously ill patients, their families and caregivers, outlining the tasks and issues they must face at each phase, and offering suggestions for effective coping.