Supportive Oncology: New Models for the Role of Psychiatry in Cancer Care

Treatment advances have resulted in the creation of large numbers of cancer survivors, and to the recognition that cancer is now often a chronic, rather than acutely life-threatening, illness. Evolution of our scientific and clinical understanding of the human dimensions of cancer and cancer care can be encapsulated in the progression of descriptive terms from psycho-oncology, to psychosocial oncology, to supportive oncology.