Series: Contemporary Cultural Studies in Illness, Health and Medicine

Introduced in 1964, Cicely Saunders' term total pain has come to epitomise the holistic ethos of hospice and palliative care. It communicates how a dying person's pain can be a whole overwhelming experience, not only physical but also psychological, social and spiritual. Total pain clearly summarises Saunders' whole-person, multidisciplinary outlook, but is it a phenomenon, an intervention framework, a care...