Living in limbo: psychosocial intervention in families with a cancer patient.
Modern medical practice has changed cancer from an acute to a chronic catastrophe. The family system of a cancer patient moves therefore into a state of a "limbo" where interactions, plans, and socioeconomic realities are continually imbalanced and ever-changing. Family coping styles are examined; therapists' strategies and pitfalls are delineated.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D012380:Role; D012539:Scapegoating; D013315:Stress, Psychological