own perception of ourselves and some number of other people’s perceptions of us. Such a congruity is the way in which we maintain a relatively realistic self-concept, some sense of stability, a lower level of basic anxiety, as well as trust in those for whom it’s important for us to trust. Erikson and Hyerstay discuss the stress exerted on dying persons and the negative effect on them of the discrepancies between (1) the persons’ awareness of what’s happening to their own bodies and the numerous