Author Description

Written for oncologists, nurses, and mental health professionals, this comprehensive volume is the first to cover the full range of psychological, social, and psychiatric problems facing cancer patients, their families, and health care staff. The Handbook provides detailed guidance on the psychological care of cancer patients at all stages of the disease. It offers lucid accounts of such clinical issues as how patients cope with cancer; the psychological problems associated with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy; the psychosocial problems associate with specific tumors; normal adaptation patterns; common psychiatric complications and their treatment; the management of pain, nausea, and vomiting; and sexual problems. In addition to reviewing the key studies in these areas, it gives full coverage--complete with "how-to" guidance--of the unique problems of childhood cancer and cancer in the elderly; AIDS; how oncology staff cope with the stresses of care; anc common difficulties arising from legal and ethical considerations. The final sectin outlines research issues in assessing quality of life and psychosocial function and offers an evaluation of their relative value. The product of a decade of clinical experience and reearch at the Psychiatry Service of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, this is a carefully integrated, well-balanced work that includes many tables which will be particularly useful in teaching and lecturing.