[Twenty-five years of psycho-oncology in New York: a retrospective]

This article offers a retrospective overview of 25 years of implementation of psycho-oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center. It shows the ways and means used to obtain a progressive development of this sub-specialty for the purpose of improving patients' quality of life and helping professional teams wishing to offer integrated care to patients and families. It justifies the pragmatic approach adopted in the English-speaking world, which is also flexible and suited to the somatic realities of cancer. The role of all the various professionals care is highlighted, as is the parallel development of clinical research hand in hand with clinical practice in the field. This has enabled the determination of the prevalence psycho-pathologies in the field of cancer, and demonstrated the need for early screening, and the instatement and evaluation of various specific interventions. Today, psycho-oncology is considered as a natural component of supportive care, but it should continue to develop alongside other specialities in order to help patients and families to cope with cancer better, both during and after treatment.