Some psychosomatic aspects of neoplasia*

Psychological enquiry: a contribution to cancer research

“…The most frequently reported stressful life event (Le Shan, 1959) has been loss of a major emotional relationship (Le Shan & Worthington, 1955;Reznikoff, 1955;Greene, 1966), but this has not been confirmed in controlled studies (Muslin et al 1966;Snell & Graham, 1971;Schonfield, 1975). Previous reports concerning personality characteristics of cancer patients have been carefully reviewed by several authors (Perrin & Pierce, 1959;Brown, 1966;Crisp, 1970;Abse et al 1974). Surprisingly, these early observations reveal some consistency: certain characteristicsviz.…”

The Validity of Emotional Control as a Trait in Breast Cancer Patients

“…Reviews by Abse et al (1974) and Crisp (1970) indicated that the most common traits identified were (1) denial and repression, (2) Greer and Morris (1975) found that breast cancer patients were more likely to report suppressing their anger than were women with benign breast disease. More recent studies (Morris et al, 1981;Wirsching, 1982) have confirmed this tendency: breast cancer patients show less anxiety and express less anger than do healthy controls.…”

Psychological concomitants of cancer: current state of research

“…Most of the earlier reports were based on clinical observations and insights gained from psychotherapy. Although beset by various methodological defects (as described, inter alia, by Crisp, 1970;Fox, 1978;Greer & Morris, 1978), these observations provide a useful source of testable hypotheses. In ensuing investigations, it is essential to study separately patients with different kinds of neoplastic disease.…”