Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:09:47.282Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychological concomitants of cancer: current state of research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

S. Greer*
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychological Medicine and Faith Courtauld Unit for Human Studies in Cancer, King's College Hospital Medical School, LondonNorris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth, Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Peter M. Silberfarb
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychological Medicine and Faith Courtauld Unit for Human Studies in Cancer, King's College Hospital Medical School, LondonNorris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth, Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: DrS. Greer, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital Medical School, London SE5.

Synopsis

An increasing interest in the psychological concomitants of neoplastic diseases has led to a burgeoning literature in recent years. The present review identifies five major areas of psychiatric research, documents the current state of knowledge, and indicates fruitful avenues for further study.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abse, D. W., Wilkins, M. M., Van de Castle, R. L., Buxton, W. D., Demars, J. P., Brown, R. S. & Kirschner, L. G. (1974). Personality and behavioural characteristics of lung cancer patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 18, 101113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Achterberg, J., Collerain, I. & Craig, P. (1978). A possible relationship between cancer, mental retardation and mental disorders. Social Science and Medicine 12, 135139.Google ScholarPubMed
Bacon, C. L., Renneker, R. & Cutler, M. (1952). A psychosomatic survey of cancer of the breast. Psychosomatic Medicine 14, 453458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bahnson, C. B. (1969). Psychophysical complementarity in malignancies: past work and future vistas. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 164, 319333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barraclough, B. M. (1978). Cancer and suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry 133, 287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barton, T. T. (1965). Life after laryngectomy. Laryngoscope 75, 14081415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennette, G. (1969). Psychic and cellular aspects of isolation and identity impairment in cancer: a dialectic of alienation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 164, 352363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binger, C. B., Ablin, A. R., Feuerstein, R. C., Kushner, J. H., Zoger, S. & Mikkelsen, C. (1969). Childhood leukaemia: emotional impact on patient and family. New England Journal of Medicine 280, 414418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, J. R., Ross, R. D. & Burnell, G. (1978). The effect of social support on patient readjustment after breast surgery. Patient Counselling and Health Education 1 (2), 5059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumberg, E. M., West, P. M. & Ellis, F. W. (1954). A possible relationship between psychological factors and human cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine 4, 277286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppen, A. & Metcalfe, M. (1963). Cancer and extraversion. British Medical Journal ii, 1819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coursey, K., Dawson, J. J. & Luce, J. K. (1975). Comparative anxiety levels of cancer patients and family members. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research 16, 246.Google Scholar
Craig, T. J. & Abeloff, M. D. (1974). Psychiatric symptomatology among hospitalized cancer patients. American Journal of Psychiatry 131. 13211327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crisp, A. H. (1970). Some psychosomatic aspects of neoplasia. British Journal of Medical Psychology 43, 313331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dattore, P. J., Shontz, F. C. & Coyne, L. (1980). Premorbid personality differentiation of cancer and non-cancer groups: a test of the hypothesis of cancer proneness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 48. 388394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, R. K., Quinlan, D. M., McKegney, P. & Kimball, C. P. (1973). Organic factors and psychological adjustment in advanced cancer patients. Psychosomatic Medicine 35, 464471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dempster, C. R., Balson, P. & Whalen, B. T. (1976). Supportive hypnotherapy during the radical treatment of malignancies. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 24, 19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derogatis, L. R., Abeloff, M. D. & Melisaratos, N. (1979). Psychological coping mechanisms and survival time in metastatic breast cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association 242, 15041508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Devlin, H. B., Plant, J. A. & Griffin, M. (1971). Aftermath of surgery for anorectal cancer. British Medical Journal iii, 413418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drummond, S. (1967). Vocal rehabilitation after laryngectomy. British Journal of Disorders of Communication 2, 3944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eardley, A., George, W. D., Davis, F., Schofield, P. F., Wilson, M. C., Wakefield, J. & Sellwood, R. A. (1976). Colostomy: the consequences of surgery. Clinical Oncology 2, 277283.Google ScholarPubMed
Evans, N. J. R., Baldwin, J. A. & Gath, D. (1974). The incidence of cancer among patients with affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry 124, 518525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Falek, A. & Britton, S. (1974). Phases in coping: the hypothesis and its implications. Social Biology (Chicago) 21(1), 219239.Google ScholarPubMed
Fife, B. L. (1978). Reducing parental overprotection of the leukemic child. Social Science and Medicine 12, 117122.Google ScholarPubMed
Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour 21, 219239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forester, B. M., Kornfeld, D. S. & Fleiss, J. (1978). Psychiatric aspects of radiotherapy. American Journal of Psychiatry 135, 960963.Google ScholarPubMed
Fox, B. H. (1978). Premorbid psychological factors as related to cancer incidence. Journal of Behavioural Medicine 1, 45133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, B. H., Stanek, E. J., Boyd, S. C. & Flannery, J. T. (1982). Suicide rates among cancer patients. Journal of Chronic Diseases (In the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fras, I., Litin, E. M. & Pearson, J. S. (1967). Comparison of psychiatric symptoms in carcinoma of the pancreas with those of some other intra-abdominal neoplasms. American Journal of Psychiatry 123, 15531562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, W. A., Freidenbergs, I., Diller, L., Hibbard, M., Wolf, C., Levine, L., Lipkins, R., Ezrachi, O. & Lucido, D. (1980). Efficacy of psychosocial intervention with cancer patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 48, 743759.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gorzynski, J. G., Holland, J., Katz, J. L., Weiner, H., Zumoff, B., Fukushima, D. & Levin, J. (1980). Stability of ego defenses and endocrine responses in women prior to breast biopsy and ten years later. Psychosomatic Medicine 42 (3), 323328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greer, S. (1979). Psychological enquiry: a contribution to cancer research. Psychological Medicine 9, 8189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greer, S. & Morris, T. (1975). Psychological attributes of women who develop breast cancer: a controlled study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 19, 147153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greer, S. & Morris, T. (1978). The study of psychological factors in breast cancer: problems of method. Social Science and Medicine 12, 129134.Google Scholar
Greer, S., Morris, T. & Pettingale, K. W. (1979). Psychological response to breast cancer: effect on outcome. Lancet ii, 785787.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafson, J. & Whitman, H. (1978). Towards a balanced social environment on the oncology service: the cancer patient's group. Social Psychiatry 13, 147152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagnell, O. (1966). The premorbid personality of persons who develop cancer in a total population investigated in 1947 and 1957. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 125, 846855.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967). Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 6, 278296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, J. C., Bahna, G., McKegney, P., Silberfarb, P., Tross, S. & Glidewell, O. (1980). Psychiatric research in multi-modal cancer clinical trials. Proceedings of the American Society for Clinical Oncology 21, 354.Google Scholar
Jamison, K. R., Wellisch, D. K. & Pasnau, R. D. (1978). Psychosocial aspects of mastectomy. I. The woman's perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry 135, 432436.Google Scholar
Katz, J., Kunofsky, S., Patton, N. E. & Allway, N. C. (1967). Cancer mortality among patients in New York mental hospitals. Cancer 20, 21942199.3.0.CO;2-M>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerr, T. A., Shapira, K. & Roth, M. (1969). The relationship between premature death and affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry 115, 12771282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kissen, D. M. (1963). Personality characteristics in males conducive to lung cancer. British Journal of Medical Psychology 36, 2736.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kissen, D. M., Brown, R. I. F. & Kissen, M. (1969). A further report on personality and psychosocial factors in lung cancer. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 164, 535544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, R. (1971). A crisis to grow on. Cancer 28, 16601665.3.0.CO;2-7>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasnoff, A. (1959). Psychological variables and human cancer: a cross-validation study. Psychosomatic Medicine 21, 291295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lansky, S. B., Lowman, J. T., Gyulay, J. & Briscoe, K. (1976). A team approach to coping with cancer. In Cancer: the Behavioural Dimensions (ed. Cullen, J. W., Fox, B. H. and Isom, R. N.), pp. 295308. Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Le Shan, L. (1959). Psychological states as factors in the development of malignant disease: a critical review. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 22, 118.Google Scholar
Le, Shan L. & Worthington, R. E. (1956). Personality as a factor in the pathogenesis of cancer: a review of the literature. British Journal of Medical Psychology 29, 4956.Google Scholar
Levine, P. M., Silberfarb, P. M. & Lipowski, Z. J. (1978). Mental disorders in cancer patients. Cancer 42, 13851391.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lipowski, Z. (1968). Review of consultation psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine. Psychosomatic Medicine 30 (4), 395422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lishman, W. A. (1978). Organic Psychiatry, pp. 864874. Blackwell: Oxford.Google Scholar
Lloyd, G. G. (1979). Psychological stress and coping mechanisms in patients with cancer. In Mind and Cancer Prognosis (ed. Stoll, B. A.), pp. 4759. John Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Louhivouri, K. A. & Hakama, M. (1979). Risk of suicide among cancer patients. American Journal of Epidemiology 109, 5965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magarey, C. J., Todd, P. B. & Blizard, P. J. (1977). Psychosocial factors influencing delay and breast self-examination in women with symptoms of breast cancer. Social Science and Medicine 11, 229232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maguire, P. (1979). The will to live in the cancer patient. In Mind and Cancer Prognosis (ed. Stoll, B. A.), pp. 169182. John Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Maguire, G. P., Lee, E. G., Bevington, D. J., Kucheman, C. S., Crabtree, R. J. & Cornell, C. F. (1978). Psychiatric problems in the first year after mastectomy. British Medical Journal i, 963965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maguire, P., Tait, A., Brooke, M., Thomas, C., Howat, J. M. T., Sellwood, R. A. & Bush, H. (1980a). Psychiatric morbidity and physical toxicity associated with adjuvant chemotherapy after mastectomy. British Medical Journal 281, 11791180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maguire, P., Tait, A., Brooke, M., Thomas, C. & Sellwood, R. (1980b). Effect of counselling on the psychiatric morbidity associated with mastectomy. British Medical Journal 281, 14541456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McIntosh, J. (1974). Process of communication, information seeking and control associated with cancer. Social Science and Medicine 8, 167187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKegney, F. P., Bailey, L. R. & Yates, J. W. (1981). Prediction and treatment of pain in terminal cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine 43, 8485.Google Scholar
Meares, A. (1978). Regression of osteogenic sarcoma metastases associated with intensive meditation. Medical Journal of Australia ii, 443.Google Scholar
Meares, A. (1979). Meditation: a psychological approach to cancer treatment. The Practitioner 222, 119122.Google ScholarPubMed
Miller, T. & Spratt, J. S. (1979). Critical review of reported psychological correlates of cancer prognosis and growth. In Mind and Cancer Prognosis (ed. Stoll, B. A.), pp. 3137. John Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W. M. (1967). Aetiological factors producing neuropsychiatric syndromes in patients with malignant disease. International Journal of Neuropsychiatry 3, 464468.Google ScholarPubMed
Morris, T. (1979). Psychological adjustment to mastectomy. Cancer Treatment Reviews 6, 4161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, T., Greer, H. S. & White, P. (1977). Psychological and social adjustment to mastectomy: a two year follow-up study. Cancer 40, 23812387.3.0.CO;2-B>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, T., Greer, S., Pettingale, K. W. & Watson, M. (1981). Patterns of expression of anger and their psychological correlates in women with breast cancer. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 25, 111117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muslin, H. L., Gyarfas, K. & Pieper, W. J. (1966). Separation experience and cancer of the breast. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 125, 802806.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nahum, A. M. & Golden, J. S. (1963). Psychology of laryngectomy. Transactions Pacfic Coast Oto-Opthalmological Society 44, 249256.Google ScholarPubMed
Niemi, T. & Jääkeläinen, J. (1978). Cancer morbidity in depressive persons. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 22, 117120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peck, A. (1972). Emotional reactions to having cancer. American Journal of Roentgenology Radium Therapy and Nuclear Medicine 114, 591599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettingale, K. W., Merrett, T. G. & Tee, D. E. H. (1977). Prognostic value of serum levels of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM and IgE) in breast cancer: a preliminary study. British Journal of Cancer 36, 550557.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettingale, K. W., Philalithis, A., Tee, D. E. H. & Greer, H. S. (1981). The biological correlates of psychological responses to breast cancer. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 25, 453458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plumb, M. M. & Holland, J. (1977). Comparative studies of psychological functions in patients with advanced cancer. I. Self-reported depressive symptoms. Psychosomatic Medicine 39, 264276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rassidakis, N. C., Kelepouris, M., Goulis, K. & Karraiossefidis, K. (1972). Malignant neoplasms as a cause of death among psychiatric patients. International Mental Health Newsletter 14, 13.Google Scholar
Reznikoff, M. (1955). Psychological factors in breast cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine 17, 96108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosillo, R. H., Welty, M. J. & Graham, W. B. (1973). The patient with maxillofacial cancer II. Psychological aspect. Nursing Clinics of North America 8, 153158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozen, R. D., Ordway, D. E., Curtis, T. A. & Cantor, R. (1972). Psychosocial aspects of maxillofacial rehabilitation. Part 1. The effect of primary cancer treatment. Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry 28, 423428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salzberger, R. C. (1971). Cancer, Attitudes and Social Actions. County Health Department: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Schmale, A. H. & Iker, H. P. (1966). The effect of hopelessness and the development of cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine 28, 714721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmale, A. & Iker, H. (1971). Hopelessness as a predictor of cervical cancer. Social Science and Medicine 5, 95100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schrifte, M. L. (1962). Towards identification of a psychological variable in host resistance to cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine 24, 390397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, M. (1977). An information and discussion program for women after a mastectomy. Archives of Surgery 112, 276281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senescu, R. A. (1963). The development of emotional complications in the patient with cancer. Journal of Chronic Diseases 16, 813832.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silberfarb, P. M., Maurer, L. H. & Crouthamel, C. S. (1980a). Psychosocial aspects of neoplastic disease. I. Functional status of breast cancer patients during different treatment regimens. American Journal of Psychiatry 137 (4), 450455.Google ScholarPubMed
Silberfarb, P. M., Philibert, D. & Levine, P. M. (1980b). Psychosocial aspects of neoplastic disease: II. Affective and cognitive effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. American Journal of Psychiatry 137 (5), 597601.Google ScholarPubMed
Silberfarb, P., Holland, J. C., Bahna, G. F., Anbar, D., Maurer, H. & Comis, R. (1981). Differences in psychologic response on two treatment regimens for localized small cell lung carcinoma. Proceedings of the American Society for Cancer Research 22, 158.Google Scholar
Simonton, O. C. & Simonton, S. S. (1975). Belief systems and management of the emotional aspects of malignancy. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 8, 2947.Google Scholar
Singer, E., Garfinkel, R., Cohen, S. M. & Srole, L. (1976). Mortality and mental health: evidence from the Midtown Manhattan Restudy. Social Science and Medicine 10, 517525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spiegel, D., Bloom, J. R. & Yalom, I. (1981). Group support for patients with metastatic cancer. Archives of General Psychiatry 38, 527533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stavraky, K. M., Buck, C. N., Lott, J. S. & Worklin, J. M. (1968). Psychological factors in the outcome of human cancer. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 12, 251259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, M., Keller, S. & Schleifer, S. (1979). Role of the hypothalamus in mediating Stress effects on the immune system. In Mind and Cancer Prognosis (ed. Stoll, B. A.), pp. 85101. John Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Stoll, B. A. (1979). Is hope a factor in survival? In Mind and Cancer Prognosis (ed. Stoll, B. A.), pp. 183197. John Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Sutherland, A. M., Orbach, C. E., Dyk, R. B. & Bard, M. (1952). The psychological impact of cancer and cancer surgery. I. Adaptation to the dry colostomy: preliminary report and summary of findings. Cancer 5, 857872.3.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarlau, M. & Smalheiser, I. (1951). I. Personality patterns of patients with malignant tumours of the breast and cervix. Psychosomatic Medicine 13, 117121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, C. B., Duszynski, K. R. & Shaffer, J. W. (1979). Family attitudes reported in youth as potential predictors of cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine 41, 287302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trotnow, S. & Pauli, H. K. (1972). Gibt es soziale Unterschiede zwischen Frauen mit bösartigen und Frauen mit gutartigen Brusttumoren? Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde 32, 699701.Google Scholar
Watson, T. A. (1966). Cancer of the breast. American Journal of Roentgenology 96, 547559.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weisman, A. D. & Worden, J. W. (1977). Coping with Vulnerability in Cancer Patients. Privately printed: Boston, Mass.Google Scholar
Wellisch, D. K., Jamison, K. R. & Pasnau, R. O. (1978). Psychosocial aspects of mastectomy. II: The man's perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry 135, 543546.Google ScholarPubMed
Whitlock, F. A. (1978a). Suicide, cancer and depression. British Journal of Psychiatry 132, 269274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitlock, F. A. (1978b). Suicide and cancer. British Journal of Psychiatry 133, 477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitlock, F. A. & Siskind, M. (1979). Depression and cancer: a follow-up study. Psychological Medicine 9, 747752.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wirsching, M., Drüner, H. U. & Herrman, C. (1975). Results of psychosocial adjustment to long-term colostomy. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 26, 245256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wochnik, M. (1976). Psychologische Erhebungen bei Kehlkopfexterpierten. Zeitschrift für ärtzliche Fortbildung 70, 12131218.Google Scholar
Wolff, C. T., Friedman, S. B., Hofer, M. A. & Mason, J. W. (1964). Relationship between psychological defenses and mean urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroid excretion rates. I. A predictive study of parents of fatally ill children, II. Methodologic and theoretical considerations. Psychosomatic Medicine 26, 576591, 592–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar