Stress response syndromes and cancer: conceptual and assessment issues.

ABSTRACT

Stress response syndromes have begun to receive research attention in cancer, including melanoma, Hodgkin's disease, breast cancer, and mixed-diagnosis samples. This paper focuses on conceptual and assessment issues in the application of the trauma model to adaptation to cancer. Among the central considerations differentiating cancer from other traumatic events, the utility of conceptualizing stress responses along a continuum in this population, diagnostic issues, and preliminary recommendations for therapeutic interventions.