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Advances in medical care over the past fifty years have transformed cancer and other severe illnesses from fatal to chronic illnesses. As persons with cancer survive longer, they are faced with a multiplicity of stresses and challenges and can benefit from psychosocial care. When Anatole Broyard (1990), writer and editor, developed prostate cancer, he wrote:
I want to be a good story for my doctor, to exchange some of my art for his…. To most physicians my illness is a routine incident in their rounds, while for me it's the crisis of my life…. Just as he orders blood tests and bone scans for my body, I'd like my doctor to scan me, to grope my spirit as well as my prostate…. In learning to talk to his patients the doctor may talk himself back into loving his work. He has little to lose and much to gain by letting the sick man into his heart. If he does, they can share, as few others can, the wonder, terror, and exaltation of being on the edge of being, between the natural and the supernatural (p. 36).
Group Therapy for Cancer Patients provides a comprehensive approach for clinicians, an easy-to-follow map to guide clinicians through “the wonder, terror, and exaltation of being on the edge of being.” Although the book serves as an outstanding textbook for the psychosocial care of cancer patients, the strategies and concepts are readily applicable to any severe illness, and can be used in the care of persons with AIDS, heart disease, and neurological illnesses. It is an outstanding manual for psychiatrists of the medically ill, for oncologists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse clinicians, social workers, primary physicians, oncology nurses, and other health care professionals. It can serve as an introductory guide for oncology fellows, fellows in psychiatry of the medically ill, and trainees in other disciplines. It is a superb resource and review for the experienced psychiatrist or group leader. It is an exemplary guide for understanding psychosocial aspects of cancer a