Existential pain—an entity, a provocation, or a challenge?

Percent of coded categories within each of Yalom's categories. Physicians considered the concepts of freedom and isolation less important than chaplains. Questions of meaning are considered important by all professions. The concept of death is considered more important by the physicians than by the chaplains. (P<0.001).

A histogram of frequencies of the 16 key words without attention paid to the context. Every key word is recorded only once/respondent. Chaplains (n=150), Palliative physicians (n=111), Pain specialists (n=90). Palliative care physicians focus on meaning, soul, and death issues, whereas pain specialists underscore the impact of psychological factors. Chaplains stress religious and guilt issues.