Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:1700-1706
Copyright © 1993 by American Psychiatric Association
Group psychotherapy during radiotherapy: effects on emotional and physical distress
B Forester, DS Kornfeld, JL Fleiss and S Thompson
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether group
psychotherapy during radiotherapy for cancer significantly decreases
patients' emotional and physical distress. METHOD: Twenty-four patients
receiving radiotherapy were randomly selected for group psychotherapy (six
patients per group, 90-minute weekly sessions for 10 weeks). Another 24
patients served as control subjects. Each patient was given the Schedule
for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) at the onset of
radiotherapy, midway through radiotherapy, at the end of radiotherapy, and
4 and 8 weeks after radiotherapy ended. RESULTS: The combined SADS items
for depression, pessimism and hopelessness, somatic preoccupation and
worry, social isolation and withdrawal, insomnia, and anxiety and agitation
were used as a measure of emotional distress. The combined SADS items for
anorexia, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue were used as a measure of
physical distress. By 4 weeks after the end of radiotherapy, the patients
who received group psychotherapy showed significant decreases in both
emotional and physical symptoms, and the decreases were greater than those
for the control patients. The subjects who initially seemed unaware of
their cancer diagnoses had the lowest baseline levels of emotional and
physical distress, but 4 weeks after the end of radiotherapy they had high
distress levels. CONCLUSIONS: Group therapy may enhance quality of life for
cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy by reducing their emotional and
physical distress. The degree to which patients acknowledge the diagnosis
of malignancy may be a factor in their initial distress level and their
response to radiotherapy and group therapy.
