Psychosocial impact of gynecologic cancer

The stress that a cancer diagnosis places on a patient and family is frequently aggravated by management and treatment, unless considerable attention is paid to psychologic and social coping and adaptational issues. Cancer arouses feelings of helplessness, dependency, guilt, alienation, and vulnerability, and depending on the stage of illness and on the degree of therapeutic mutilation of genital organs, long-term suffering may ensue unless attention is paid to the support-systems available to the patient. Support includes information sharing, exploring fears and fantasies, helping patients feel some element of control, and, not infrequently, putting patients in touch with others who had adapted to the experience. Considerable attention is now being paid to sexual counseling in recognition of the need for intimate bonding that exists in people. The physician's responsibility in cancer management is to provide resource directly or by referral in order to maintain the morale system of the patient and family over a long time period.