Psicooncología infantil y adolescente

Abstract

Due to the world of the oncology is more and more complex, it has been necessary that, the clinical psychologist who takes care of children and adolescents with cancer, get specialized. The peculiarities of the childhood make the treatment of cancer different from the one for adults. The tumours that occur during childhood usually are not the same that those that take place in the adult life. The medical treatment is different. The necessary care might also differ. The follow-up and control of these patients is necessary. Due to their early age, there still are bounded to their parents and family. Their needs as a patients are also different. The psychological intervention –in the different phases of the treatment– of the oncological child and adolescent will have to consider that they are subjects in permanent development. For that reason, they require different methods of psycho-diagnosis and therapeutic approach. As the key moments in the process of the disease are the diagnosis, the treatment and the remission, there is psychological intervention throughout all these phases. For this, it is necessary to develop programs of multidisciplinary work.