Psychoonkologia – nowa dyscyplina medycyny, jej historia i sytuacja w Polsce

Abstract Psycho-oncology is a relatively new field at the intersection of oncology, psychiatry, clinical psychology and health psychology. Formally recognized as a subspeciality in 1975, psycho-oncology is concerned with psychological aspects of cancer, and has become increasingly important in recent years. Psycho-oncology provides a good example of interdisciplinary medical team work and comprehensive patient care functioning. Basic information about psycho-oncology may be useful for family physicians, medical specialists, psychologists and other health professionals. The paper presents both a review of the state-of-the-art in the field and clinical practitioner's comments on its development in Poland. The Polish Society of Psycho-oncology was established in 1992. Despite the dynamic development of the field in our country, psychological help offered recently by the national health insurance to cancer patients is insufficient. Polish psycho-oncology faces a number of challenges including: defining the profession of psycho-oncologist, creating relevant administrative regulations, as well as specifying psycho-oncological services in the national health insurance program and psycho-oncological care standards in the National Cancer Control Program.