Cancer Stories: Creativity and Self-Repair

Cancer Stories provides a vivid depiction of the inner experience of the cancer patient as revealed by the accounts of, and pictures created by, the patients themselves. Drawing on her clinical work as well as an extensive autobiographical literature, Dreifuss-Kattan takes the reader on a deeply moving journey through the psychological realities of cancer, beginning with the initial shock of diagnosis and continuing through the multiple treatments for cancer -- surgery, radiation, chemotherapy -- with their frequently harrowing side-effects. She then demonstrates how psychotherapy and art therapy can be valuable additions to the treatment of cancer patients, fostering creativity which, in turn, can be the vehicle for achieving new psychological integration even in the face of impending death.