[Psychosocial distress as a concomitant symptom in cancer patients]

According to the lay mind the psyche is somehow responsible for the cancer growth, at least to name one reason for the verdict of guilty. Scientifically this issue has no evidence, as well as there is no evidence that the psyche has an influence on neither survival time nor healing rates. Merely undisputed is the effect of the psychosocial stress of a life-threatening medical illness onto the quality of life of the patients and family members. This kind of stress is called "distress"in the American-speaking countries. The translation into German terms is still poorly defined and mainly concentrated to the psychiatric disorders (ICD-10) like depressions and anxiety disorders. Psycho-oncological research is currently interested besides others issues in the question of a suitable screening-method to identify patients in regard to their distress level, who would profit by a specific psycho-oncological intervention.