Psycho-oncology practitioner

Being told of a cancer diagnosis is a profoundly traumatic shock for both the person affected and their family. Daily life is overturned by fear of death, uncertainty about prognosis and the burden of treatment protocols, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and disfiguring surgery. The psycho-oncology practitioner is a psychologist or psychiatrist specifically trained in the medical and existential dimensions of cancer care.

The practitioner works at every stage of care: during the initial shock following diagnosis, throughout demanding treatments to regulate distress, anticipatory nausea or intractable pain, and in the delicate period after cancer. Paradoxically, remission is often experienced with an underlying anxiety about recurrence and a sense of being out of step with loved ones, who expect an immediate return to normal life.

Psycho-oncology routinely includes support for family carers, including partners, children and parents, who shoulder an enormous emotional and practical burden without daring to voice their own exhaustion. Therapeutic work allows fear of loss to be expressed, communication within the family to be adapted and an essential space for psychological breathing room to be preserved, sustaining everyday courage.

Paradoxically, the end of chemotherapy or radiotherapy protocols marks the beginning of a psychologically destabilising period. Patients suddenly lose the protective framework of the hospital while confronting a constant fear of recurrence. The psycho-oncology practitioner offers a safe space in which to become familiar with a changed body and redefine life's priorities.