Severe anxiety or panic might stem from specific fears about dying or from drug treatment or drug withdrawal. Dementia is a common cognitive complication afflicting the older elderly, younger patients with such diseases as AIDS and stroke, and those suffering from Alzheimer's disease. A person with mild dementia might be apathetic and have difficulty concentrating. More severe dementia may leave a patient unable to speak or move about. Palliative care requires expertise in identifying emotional and cognitive symptoms which can easily be misinterpreted, and responding to them.
Several approaches including medications, psychotherapy, and empathetic listening can be helpful.
Research suggests that most people face their illnesses with hopefulness, holding on to whatever time they have even though they may have transient wishes to just die and get it over with. Often those wishes reverse when patients receive symptom relief and emotional support. Dying people frequently try to grasp the significance of their lives. Family members, friends, and caregivers around them also find themselves confronting questions and anxieties about their own mortality. This is why spiritual care pastoral or non-religious is helpful to many patients and families.