Overcoming the Shame of Cancer

Abstract

The author describes the silencing and dehumanizing effects of being diagnosed with cancer. This experience evolved from a sense of being totally stunned, to being flooded with shame, and finally to be able to reenter an experience of subjectivity through the support of his family, friends, and community. He describes his personal struggle to disclose having cancer to his patients and supervises and the incredible beneficial effects of disclosure and being virtually and actually held and cared for. The author describes from Relational, Kleinian, and Lacanian perspectives his understanding of the effects of self-disclosure in reestablishing the capacity for symbolization and the ability to create personal meaning.

Notes

¹ Freud (1905) presented the same joke in his earlier book, which suggests that it contained a special significance.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Newirth

Joseph Newirth, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., is a Professor at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University, in Garden City, New York. He is the former director of the Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy at Adelphi University. He has taught and supervised psychoanalytic candidates at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies. His book Between Emotion and Cogniiton: The Generative Unconscious (2003), published by the Other Press, received the Gradiva Prize. He is currently working on a new book: From Sign to Symbol: Transformational Processes in Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and Psychology, which will be published by Rowman and Littlefield. His practice is in New York City.