Psychologic support for children with soft tissue and bone sarcomas.
Advances in pediatric hematology and oncology during the last decade have increased the survival rate of children with cancer. If treatment is to be successful, optimally, psychologic and physical issues, though they may become indistinguishable from one another, must be taken into consideration. Using the system theory concept, I examined the impact of the various professionals on the sick child. To facilitate better care, the liaison Pediatric Psychiatry Service at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City developed a series of psychiatric interventions that deal with the psychologic needs of the various components of the medical-therapeutic system. These include preparation of a psychosocial profile of the sick child and his family; group meetings for nurses, house staff, and attending physicians in hematology and oncology; and discussions with the parents. The patient is perceived as a biopsychologic system, the natural unit in which it is possible to discern and abstract the psychologic subsystem and the biologic subsystem. Psychiatric intervention with the psychologic subsystem is intended to facilitate the cure and recovery of the biologic subsystem.
D000293:Adolescent; D001132:Arm; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D010386:Pelvic Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000523:psychology*; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*