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Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy pp 207–230Cite as

Medical Family Therapy in Oncology

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Part of the book series: Focused Issues in Family Therapy ((FIFT))

Abstract

Cancer diagnoses encompass a broad and varied group of diseases that share the feature of abnormal and uncontrolled cell growth. In the United States alone, an estimated 1.6 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed last year (American Cancer Society, 2016). Once considered a death sentence, many cancers are now treated as chronic illnesses that require long-term management (McCorkle et al., 2011). This shift from acute to chronic care for patients with cancer represents a culmination of continually evolving medical advances that have succeeded in prolonging survival and expanding the range of available treatment options.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note: References that are prefaced with an asterisk are recommended readings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Talia Zaider

  2. Ackerman Institute for the Family, New York, NY, USA

    Peter Steinglass

Authors
  1. Talia Zaider
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  2. Peter Steinglass
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Talia Zaider .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Tai Mendenhall

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Science, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

    Angela Lamson

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Science, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

    Jennifer Hodgson

  4. Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Macaran Baird

Additional Resources

Additional Resources

Literature

Breitbart, W. S., Breitbart, W., & Poppito, S. R. (2014). Individual meaning-centered psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer: A treatment manual. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Holland, J. C., Breitbart, W. S., Jacobsen, P. B., Butow, P. N., Loscalzo, M. J., & McCorkle, R. (Eds.). (2015). Psycho-oncology (3rd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Kissane, D. W., & Bloch, S. (2002). Family focused grief therapy. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.

Kissane, D. W., & Parnes, F. (2014). Bereavement care for families. New York, NY: Routledge.

Rauch, P., & Muriel, A. (2005). Raising an emotionally healthy child when a parent is sick. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Watson, M., & Kissane, D. W. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of psychotherapy in cancer care. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Measures/Instruments

Family Relationships Index (FRI). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15546124

National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer. https://www.nccn.org/patients/resources/life_with_cancer/pdf/nccn_distress_thermometer.pdf

Psychosocial Assessment Tool. https://www.psychosocialassessmenttool.org

Organizations/Associations

American Psycho-Oncology Society. https://apos-society.org

International Psycho-Oncology Society . http://ipos-society.org

Society for Behavioral Medicine. http://www.sbm.org

Glossary of Important Terms for Care in Oncology

Biopsy

A surgical procedure to remove a segment of a tumor for the purpose of determining a precise diagnosis.

Carcinoma

A cancer that begins in the skin or tissues that line the inside or cover the outside of internal organs.

Curative treatment

Treatment intended (and expected) to destroy the cancer.

Disease-free survival (DFS)

A measure of time following treatment during which no signs of cancer are discovered.

Localized

A cancer that is confined to the area where it began; it has not spread to other parts of a patient’s body.

Malignant

A tumor is malignant when there is evidence of disease, as differentiated from a tumor said to be “benign” or noncancerous.

Metastasis

The spread of cancer to organs beyond where it began (which is referred to as the “primary” or “original” site).

Palliative treatment

Treatment intended to relieve symptoms and pain associated with the cancer.

Remission

The disappearance of cancer signs and symptoms (but not necessarily the disease, itself); this can be temporary or permanent in duration.

Tumor markers

Substances that can be measured in the blood, urine, or body tissues to indicate the presence of cancer .

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Zaider, T., Steinglass, P. (2018). Medical Family Therapy in Oncology. In: Mendenhall, T., Lamson, A., Hodgson, J., Baird, M. (eds) Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy. Focused Issues in Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68834-3_8

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