Psychological Care for Cancer Patients

In this week’s review professor and psychiatrist Domenico Arturo Nesci chronicles his work to educate medical professionals on providing psychological care to cancer patients, centering “the need to listen, observe, and empathize.”

Posted on October 21, 2024 in Reviews of the Month

Psychological Care for Cancer Patients: New Perspectives on Training Health Professionals

Nesci, Domenico Arturo. Lexington Books, 2023
162p bib index, 9781793643995 $95.00, 9781793644008 $45.00

Psychological Care for Cancer Patients book cover.

This excellent book introduces professionals to the work of Nesci (Univ. Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy; Scuola Internazionale di Psicoterapia, Italy) and his life-long interest in and commitment to the psychological care and well-being of cancer patients and their caregivers. Through his early experience as a trainee, he realized the unique challenges cancer patients face: difficult treatments and the existential threats cancer presents, the latter usually ignored by medical teams. Patients may be labeled as uncooperative or depressed based on their lack of positive emotional expression to staff. Nesci developed a theory explaining patients’ reactions and treatment needs, also realizing the need to support medical staff burdened with difficult treatments and uncertain outcomes. He then created a group discussion protocol for medical trainees to raise awareness of the psychosocial aspects of medical care. Written as a professional memoir, this volume describes the author’s early experiences as he began to specialize in treating cancer patients and their families and training medical teams. His protocol emphasizes the need to listen, observe, and empathize, key skills needed to support medical staff and to help patients come to terms with the existential challenges their illness presents. Nesci created a training center for doctors and continues his commitment to humanize medical care for extremely ill patients.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.
Reviewer: D. L. Loers, Akoan Consulting
Subject: Social & Behavioral Sciences – Psychology
Choice Issue: Feb 2024

Psychological Care for Cancer Patients

In this week’s review professor and psychiatrist Domenico Arturo Nesci chronicles his work to educate medical professionals on providing psychological care to cancer patients, centering “the need to listen, observe, and empathize.”