CONTRIBUTIONS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY IN PALLIATIVE CARE

Abstract

Palliative care is defined as care for the effective control of pain and other symptoms present in people who have serious illnesses with no cure. The pain, while physical symptom, is the suffering resulting from the threat of loss of self, imposed by the disease. This relates to their life history, their beliefs and fears: the loneliness, the unknown, the separation of one you love, interrupting plans and dreams traced throughout life. So many other fears arise in the course of illness, promoting stress responses and difficulties of maintaining quality of life. The experience of illness is very difficult not only for the patient but also for their families, friends, caregivers and health professionals involved in the care. Due to the complexity of care for patients and families, a multidisciplinary team is necessary for adequate control of symptoms. The Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy has been shown to be a highly effective instrument in the treatment of these patients with the use of valuation techniques of sensitive aspects, affective and behavioral; rating scales of pain and disability; encouraging attitudes; psychoeducation and strategies of relief, tension and anxiety that are trained with the subjects attended and their families. It is in the relief of intense pain conditions and in the welcoming the suffering of the patient and his family that lies a new meaning and redirection of his life despite the disease.