It is a useful intervention to restructure the reality from one of morbid preoccupation with the unpleasant inevitability, to allowing the person who is ill to take control over the few areas of his or her life that are still open for them to have control over. It is also useful to explain to the loved ones that it is an expression of how much the ill person loves them that he or she doesn't want them to have to guess as to what should be done during the extremely stressful period following their death. It is one way the person who is dying is still able to take care of his or her loved ones. Clients need to be assured that they will not suffer. Most major hospitals have physicians who are pain management specialists who can consult with the patient about helping him or her remain comfortable at this phase of the illness.
Some people prefer to be unconscious, others wish to be alert, but sedated and pain free.
People need to be taught how to explicitly describe how much pain they are experiencing in order to effectively communicate this to the physician. Pain can be effectively controlled even if the client decides to die at home. In addition, nurses ands therapists can help clients who experience pain by teaching them the techniques of self-hypnosis and visualization. Medical and nursing staff often withhold the very medication these patients need, making them even more irritable and difficult to manage. Making patients comfortable with adequate opiates or sedatives helps them feel they are being heard, enhances their trust, and improves the working relationship between the chemically dependent patient and staff members.