Once a patient has been diagnosed with cancer, he or she will experience many different feelings. One of those feelings is that of loss. Loss has many different variances. Cancer patients can feel physical loss but they can also experience psychological, social and spiritual loss as a result of a cancer diagnosis.

To discuss these specific aspects of loss in their entirety it seems only appropriate to define the same. Colin Murray-Parkes (1999), suggests that,

" Patients grieve for the loss of security, jobs, bodily parts and functions, plans, control of lives and life itself."

Upon examination of the above quotation it is very apparent that cancer patients require great amounts of support through their experiences of spiritual and psychological loss aswell as through any physical losses they may encounter.

For the purposes of this assignment the author shall take into account the psychological, spiritual and social aspects of loss that are experienced by many cancer patients and shall highlight the most important issues of e

" An aspect of the total person that influences and acts with other aspects of the person as the most important view of their true identity"

With regard to religions and the use of religion in cancer patients, a study undertaken by Mitchell.D and Sneddon.M(1999), showed that patients' staff and visitors felt that the chaplain was an important professional figure who patients understand their spirituality. The chaplains themselves felt that their role was an understanding one that incorporated being confidential and trust worthy. It was also noted that chaplains felt that this is what patients staff and visitors expected of them.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Buckman Kubler-Ross, Colin Murray-Parkes, MitchellD SneddonM1999, , cancer patients, cancer diagnosis, psychological loss, spiritual loss, throughout cancer journey, experienced cancer patients, care cancer patient, social support, patients spirituality, cancer patient, diagnosed cancer, care cancer, loss experienced cancer, staff visitors,
Approximate Word count = 808
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)