The impact of the health professional on the individual's experience of cancer: A psychodynamic perspective

Abstract

This paper examines how interactions with health professionals may come to influence the patient's experience of cancer. It considers the idea that the experience of cancer returns an individual to a state of dependence and lack of integration similar to that of the young infant. The subsequent interactions with health professionals can then be considered in light of its ability to hold the patient's un-integrated self and facilitate its re-integration.