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Psychopharmacology in Oncology and Palliative Care pp 3–12Cite as

Psychopharmacology in Oncology and Palliative Care: General Issues

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Abstract

At least 25–30 % of patients with cancer and even a higher percentage of those in an advanced phase of illness meet the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis, including depression, anxiety, stress-related syndromes, including severe adjustment disorders, sleep disorders, and delirium. A number of studies in psycho-oncology have accumulated over the last 35 years on the use of psychotropic drugs as a pillar in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Major advances in research have also shown the efficacy of psychotropic drugs as adjuvant treatment of cancer-related symptoms, such as pain, hot flashes, pruritus, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, and cognitive impairment. The knowledge about pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, clinical use, safety, side effects, and efficacy of drugs in cancer care is essential. The aims of this chapter are to consider the need for an integrated psychological and psychopharmacological intervention, as the concept of psychopharmoncology specifies, favoring the vision of an integrated and multidimensional approach in oncology, and palliative care services as well as in community-based cancer centers.

The power of discourse stands in the same relation to the soul’s organization as the pharmacopoeia does to the physiology of bodies. For just as different drugs draw off different humors from the body, and some put an end to disease and others to life, so too of discourses: some give pain, others delight, others terrify, others rouse the hearers to courage, and yet others by a certain vile persuasion drug and trick the soul.

(Gorgias from Leontini, c. 485 – c. 380 BC, Encomium of Helena)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Biomedical and Specialty Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Luigi Grassi

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Michelle Riba (Director)

  3. Psycho-Onclology Program, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Michelle Riba (Director)

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  1. Luigi Grassi
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  2. Michelle Riba
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Correspondence to Luigi Grassi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical & Specialty Surgical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Luigi Grassi

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Michelle Riba

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Grassi, L., Riba, M. (2014). Psychopharmacology in Oncology and Palliative Care: General Issues. In: Grassi, L., Riba, M. (eds) Psychopharmacology in Oncology and Palliative Care. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40134-3_1

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