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Psychological treatment of phobic anxiety associated with adjuvant chemotherapy
Author(s) -
de L. Horne David J.,
McCormack Heather M.,
Collins John P.,
Forbes John F.,
Russell Ian S.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1986.tb113848.x
Subject(s) - nausea , anxiety , chemotherapy , regimen , medicine , desensitization (medicine) , adjuvant , systematic desensitization , breast cancer , adjuvant chemotherapy , relaxation (psychology) , psychology , psychotherapist , oncology , cancer , psychiatry , receptor
A 50‐year‐old patient with breast cancer was about to withdraw from her adjuvant chemotherapy regimen because of a long‐standing phobia about being injected, which had been compounded by anxieties that were associated with the severe side‐effects of adjuvant chemotherapy. She experienced a conditioned nausea response to hospital and medical situations. A psychological programme that incorporated relaxation training, systematic desensitization by way of the patient's visual imagination and videotape modelling, allowed her to complete the course of chemotherapy and to feel less anxious in hospital and medical settings.