Coping with early breast cancer: couple adjustment processes and couple-based intervention

Early breast cancer affects one in every nine women along with their families. Advances in screening and biomedical interventions have changed the face of breast cancer from a terminal condition to a chronic disease with biopsychosocial features. The present review surveyed the nature and extent of psychological morbidity experienced by the breast cancer survivor and her spouse during the post-treatment phase, with particular focus on the impact of disease on the marital relationship. Interpersonal processes shown to unfold in couples facing breast cancer, as well as risk factors associated with greater psychological morbidity, were reviewed. Moreover, interpersonal processes central to coping with chronic illness and adjustment were reconceptualized from the point of view of attachment theory. Attachment theory was also used as the grounding framework for an empirically supported couples-based intervention, Emotionally Focused Therapy, which is advanced as a potentially useful treatment option for couples experiencing unremitting psychological and relational distress following diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer.