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The benefits of concurrent engagement in meaning-centered psychotherapy and meaning-centered psychotherapy for cancer caregivers: A case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2022

Kailey E. Roberts*
Affiliation:
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY
Allison J. Applebaum
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
*
Author for correspondence: Kailey E. Roberts, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, 1165 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, New York, NY 10461, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objective

This report describes a case of concurrent engagement in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) and Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Caregivers (MCP-C), brief, structured interventions designed to address existential distress in patients with cancer and cancer caregivers.

Method

Descriptions of the independent courses of MCP/MCP-C treatment for a patient with Glioblastoma Multiforme and his caregiver are provided with both unique and shared themes around sources of meaning highlighted.

Results

The patient and caregiver each experienced enhanced well-being as a result of receiving MCP and MCP-C, as well as shared benefits of deepened connectedness. Engagement in MCP/MCP-C had important implications for their experience of the patient's end-of-life and the caregiver's bereavement.

Significance of results

MCP and MCP-C are interventions typically delivered independently to patients and caregivers. The individual and shared benefits derived from MCP/MCP-C by this patient and caregiver point to the potential benefits of concurrent engagement and the need for future dyadic research on MCP/MCP-C.

Type
Case Report
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

REFERENCES

Applebaum, AJ, Roberts, KE, Lynch, K, et al. (2022) A qualitative exploration of the feasibility and acceptability of meaning-centered psychotherapy for cancer caregivers. Palliative and Supportive Care, 17. doi:10.1017/S1478951521002030Google ScholarPubMed
Applebaum, AJ, Baser, RE, Roberts, KE, et al. (in press) Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Cancer Caregivers: A pilot trial among caregivers of patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Translational Behavioral Medicine, ibac043. doi:10.1093/tbm/ibac043. Online ahead of print.Google Scholar
Breitbart, W (2017) Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy in the Cancer Setting. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breitbart, W, Pessin, H, Rosenfeld, B, et al. (2018) Individual meaning-centered psychotherapy for the treatment of psychological and existential distress: A randomized controlled trial in patients with advanced cancer. Cancer 124(15), 32313239. doi:10.1002/cncr.31539CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed