title: Problem-solving therapy for psychological distress in Japanese cancer patients: preliminary clinical experience from psychiatric consultations.
abstract: Problem-solving therapy (PST) is a brief, structured psychological treatment. Preliminary clinical findings regarding the effectiveness of PST for treating psychological distress experienced by Japanese cancer patients are presented. Our actual clinical experience in administering PST to four consecutive distressed cancer patients was reviewed. All of the patients were breast cancer survivors who were referred to us after undergoing surgery. Three cases received six PST sessions each and one case received three PST sessions. The depression and anxiety scores decreased after PST. Our preliminary experience suggests that PST is an effective treatment for alleviating psychological distress in Japanese cancer patients and that this treatment should be further examined in a clinical trial.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan. takechi@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akechi
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Motooka
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiozaki
authors.forename: Junwen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kanae
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Momino
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okuyama
authors.forename: Toshiaki A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D018401:Sample Size; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome