Problems Addressed During Psycho-Oncological Therapy: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Therapists working at the eight psycho-oncological centers in the Netherlands (N = 43) were presented a list of 15 problems often encountered during therapy with cancer patients. The therapists were asked to indicate the predominant psychological problems they had dealt with during their five most recently completed interventions. The authors received complete answers from 37 therapists (86%). Anxiety and depression were the two predominant problems most often encountered by therapists during therapy (31% and 29%, respectively). Other problems included relationship problems (23%) and saying farewell to life (21%). In about one half of the cancer patients anxiety and/or depression were not the focus during their therapy.

KEYWORDS:

• psychotherapy
• distress
• anxiety
• depression
• problems

Acknowledgments

The authors report there are no financial conflicts of interest related to this project.