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Reflections of a cancer survivor/research scientist
Author(s) -
Zebrack Brad
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.11404
Subject(s) - destiny (iss module) , feeling , perspective (graphical) , medicine , cancer , psychoanalysis , psychotherapist , psychology , social psychology , physics , astronomy , artificial intelligence , computer science
Abstract [ Our original introduction to Listen to the Patient is published again to emphasize the Journal's commitment to this important series .] For more than 50 years, Cancer has been devoted to exploring every facet of malignant neoplasia, from morphology to therapy, from epidemiology to biology, from historical perspective to basic science. One aspect, however, needs emphasis, namely, the human being who bears the burden of the cancer. For this reason and with the encouragement of the Editor, we have undertaken to remedy this situation by directing attention to the fears and frustrations, hopes and expectations, and feelings and thoughts of all kinds of the person who has cancer, who is worried about it, and who is dependent on physicians specialized in its diagnosis and management. For doctors to be understanding of the very deep needs of patients with cancer, it is requisite that they be privy to authentic, but often unspoken, expressions of a patient's anxieties about physical and emotional pain, loss of control over personal destiny, and plain dread of dying and of the end of cherished relationships. Barrie R. Cassileth, Ph.D. Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York. A. Bernard Ackerman, M.D. Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology, New York, New York. Cancer 2003;97:2707–9. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11404