Psychological Problems of Adjustment to Cancer of the Breast

Renneker, Richard; Cutler, Max

doi:10.1001/jama.1952.02930100051011

Cited by 170 publications

(48 citation statements)

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“…NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript was regarded as an especially difficult insult (e.g., Bard & Sutherland, 1955;Renneker & Cutler, 1952). Implicit was the notion that a woman (and perhaps her sexual partner) would see herself as a "changed" sexual person following mastectomy.…”

Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breast cancer surgery: Comparing surgical groups and determining individual differences in postoperative sexuality and body change stress.

Yurek¹,

Farrar²,

Andersen³

2000

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

173

112

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Women diagnosed and surgically treated for regional breast cancer (N = 190) were studied to determine the sexual and body change sequelae for women receiving modified radical mastectomy (MRM) with breast reconstruction in comparison with the sequelae for women receiving breast-conserving therapy (BCT) or MRM without breast reconstruction. The sexuality pattern for women receiving reconstructive surgery was one that was significantly different--with lower rates of activity and fewer signs of sexual responsiveness--than that for women in either of the other groups. Significantly higher levels of traumatic stress and situational distress regarding the breast changes were reported by the women receiving an MRM in contrast to the women treated with BCT. Using a model to predict sexual morbidity, regression analyses revealed that individual differences in sexual self-schema were related to both sexual and body change stress outcomes.

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Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breast cancer surgery: Comparing surgical groups and determining individual differences in postoperative sexuality and body change stress.

Yurek¹,

Farrar²,

Andersen³

2000

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

173

112

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“…The female breast has real and sym bolic significance for motherhood and femininity, and if one includes erotic and cosmetic aspects, its loss can be perceived as serious damage to femininity and sex appeal [1]. In the fifties the first studies were performed to investigate the psychological problems of women after mastectomy [1,2]. Sin ce then the consequences of mastectomy have been described frequently and in detail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, there is the question whether one should take into account the age of the patient when deciding on the surgical procedure. Maguire [22] and Renneker and Cutler [2] are of the opinion that mastectomy is experienced by all women as a threat to their womanhood, but that younger women are more strongly affected since sexual attractiveness is of greater im portance to them. Maunsell et al [23] found a reduction in psy chological stress as a result of breast-conserving procedures only in women under 40 years of age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Age and of Different Operative Methods on the Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Cancer

Neises¹,

Sir²,

Strittmatter³

et al. 1994

Oncol Res Treat

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Background: Diagnosis of breast cancer causes great psychological stress. In addition to the fact that the patient is suffering from a life-threatening disease, she is confronted with a possible amputation of the breast. The female breast has a lot of real and symbolic significance for motherhood and femininity, and if one includes erotic and cosmetic aspects it is easy to see why its loss is perceived as a serious damage to femininity and sex appeal. The advent of breast-conserving surgery as an option has aroused many hopes of removing most of the psychological stress from the patients and improving their quality of life. Patients and Methods: Within the framework of this study the quality of life of women with primary breast cancer was investigated in dependence on their age and the nature of the operation. 27 women who had a breast-conserving operation and 81 who had a modification of Patey’s radical mastectomy were included in the study. 42 women in the latter group were under 60 years of age and the other 39 women were over 60. There were no significant differences in the description of the groups of patients, with the exception of the postoperative follow-up time, which was an average shorter in the patients who had the breast-conserving operation: 2.01 years compared to 2.84 years after mastectomy. The patients were all assessed with the Karnofsky index which was above 50%. Two questionnaires were used: one of them was developed by a Mannheim Working group, the other was a validated test instrument of a Dutch working group under Mrs. de Haes. The chi-square test was used for significance tests. The following areas of quality of life were investigated: emotional stress, functional status and physical symptoms, family and social contacts, sexuality, body image and femininity. Additional points looked at were information on the disease, attitude to self-help groups, and an overall assessment of the quality of life. Results: Women who had had a mastectomy felt significantly more often that they were less attractive physically than before the operation, and more often developed the feeling of incomplete womanhood. The older woman also suffers from reduced physical attractiveness and the feeling of incomplete womanhood. When ages were compared, there was significantly more often a poorer overall assessment of the quality of life and a poorer functional status and Karnofsky index after the mastectomy in the group over 60 years. In all other areas (emotional stress, social contacts, sexuality and body image) there were no significant age-dependent differences. Conclusions: This study throws new light on the question to what extent the breast-conserving procedure is advantageous to older women. We found that older women after mastectomy suffer as much from the loss of a breast as younger women, i.e. they develop exactly the same feeling of no longer being a whole woman. The above results contradict statements by many authors who favor the breast-conserving procedure for younger women, and who question the benefit ...

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“…Renneker & Cutler, in a 1952 report, were the ® rst to show that two psychological issues face breast cancer patients: anxiety, brought about by the life-threatening nature of the illness, and anxiety, caused by the dis® gurement from surgical therapy (133). Quality of life has since become an important issue in the treatment of breast cancer patients, and efforts have been made to develop local therapy that is less dis® guring.…”

Section: Breast Reconstruction Following Mastectomy: An Alternati×e Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breast Cancer Surgery - Historical Evolution, Current Status and Future Perspectives

Sakorafas

2001

Acta Oncologica

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Psychological Problems of Adjustment to Cancer of the Breast

Cited by 170 publications

References 0 publications

Breast cancer surgery: Comparing surgical groups and determining individual differences in postoperative sexuality and body change stress.

Breast cancer surgery: Comparing surgical groups and determining individual differences in postoperative sexuality and body change stress.

Influence of Age and of Different Operative Methods on the Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Surgery - Historical Evolution, Current Status and Future Perspectives

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