Christina A. Meyers, PhD

Spiegel and Moore provide an excellent review of the utility of psychological therapeutic techniques in cancer patients. These techniques are frequently viewed with alarm by the medical community because of unsubstantiated claims that they improve survival in cancer patients. Patients who expect such techniques as visual imagery to change the course of their illness may experience poorer psychological adjustment and needless guilt. However, it is a shame to "throw the baby out with the bath water." Psychological techniques have a significant role to play in the treatment of cancer patients.

Blanchard et al provide an excellent review of the literature on the psychosocial adjustment of caregivers of the cancer patient. The importance of caregiver function and adaptation to the clinical status of the cancer patient is generally conceded, but the