The author discusses the necessity of perception of the uniqueness of oncological patients and the necessity to treat all their dimensions (physical, social, mental and spiritual). She analyzes the concept of total pain according to Cecilia Saunders who discusses the mentioned dimensions of man. Total pain is made up of mutually linked components which are difficult to separate: physical pain, social pain, emotional pain, and spiritual pain. Contemporary alarming statistics provide evidence that in many patients suffering is not allevia- ted correctly. One of the important reasons of failure is also failure of health workers as regards knowledge of the complexity of suffering.

        Key words: Suffering - Total pain - Social pain - Emotional pain - Spiritual pain