Introduction to Dying
Die: "To pass from an animate to a lifeless state; to cease to live; to suffer a total and irreparable loss of action of the vital functions; to become dead; to expire; to perish..."Coping
Coping is defined as "constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person." More simply, coping is not mastering the stressful demands, but rather trying to manage stressful demands as best we can. Often coping involves becoming content to accept, endure, minimize, or avoid stressful demands. I doubt if there is a more stressful situation that a person having to face his/her own imminent death.Awareness
A couple of important topics of any discussion about dying involves the rate of dying and how aware everyone is of the condition of the dying person.