| Abstract: |
The idea of this book grew out of the awareness of the need for a better answer to the frequent query: "Where can I learn about the psychological problems of cancer patients and how to treat them?" . . . There were many books and journals that an interested reader could turn to, but no summary of the broad range of issues that one needed to know to be informed was available. We began to conceive of a small book that would serve as an introduction to this emerging area of oncology. Using a developmental model, we sought to understand and to describe the patients' life stage, the disruptions caused by cancer at that stage, and the interventions needed to promote adaptation. . . . In fact, by the mid-1980s, psychooncology had become a respectable subspecialty of oncology and psychiatry with its own body of information. It was at this point that we began to conceive of an edited book with the major contributors from our own group that, by then, was nearing a decade of experience. We decided to provide a far broader book where both oncologic and mental health professionals, or students in either field, could find information about the range of psychiatric and psychological issues in oncology. The handbook that resulted attempts to put in context the cultural, psychological, and medical aspects that contribute to adaptation, the special problems posed by childhood or older age, by treatment modality, and special problems, such as pain and central nervous system complications. In addition, it reviews the problems of families, home care, staff, ethical, and research problems, and offers treatment principles to be used in providing psychotherapy and behavioral and pharmacologic interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) |
