In Memoriam: Jimmie C. Holland, MD (1928–2017) (original) (raw)

Memorial Minute: Jimmie C. Holland, MD

Psychosomatics, 2018

Over a 40 year career at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), Jimmie created and nurtured the field of Psycho-oncology, established its clinical practice, advanced its clinical research agenda, and through her pioneering efforts, launched the careers of the leaders of a national and worldwide field who mourn her passing and continue to work in what has become a shared mission to emphasize "Care" in cancer care. Dr. Holland founded the International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS) in 1984, and founded the American Psychosocial Oncology Society in 1986. Over 25 years ago, Jimmie founded and co-edited, the international journal Psycho-Oncology. Dr. Holland edited the first major textbooks of Psycho-oncology and recently edited the 3rd edition of the textbook "Psycho-oncology" in 2015. Jimmie co-wrote two well received books for the public: "The Human Side of Cancer", and "Lighter as We Go: Virtues, Character Strengths, and Aging"; the latter reflecting her interests in Geriatric Oncology as she approached her 90 th birthday (Holland

Psycho-oncology: where have we been? Where are we going?

European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990), 1999

This article reviews the development of the subspeciality of psycho-oncology and its contributions to patient care, encouraging more attention to and research into the care of the total patient: the physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of care. The result is enhanced quality of life as the patient is studied in the domains of living that are important, extending across the continuum of care from diagnosis to palliative care. In addition, cancer prevention and early detection depends largely on changing attitudes and behaviours that put people at greater risk. This is an important area of research for psycho-oncologists. In the past two decades, research has contributed to our understanding of the psychological responses that accompany a cancer diagnosis. Oncologists better recognise psychological distress and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and delirium (in hospitalised patients) as frequent comorbid disorders. The development of valid assessment t...

Psycho-oncology: Review and update

Current Psychiatry Reports, 2006

The field of psycho-oncology is moving forward rapidly, especially for a relatively new field. Cancer patients and survivors are willing to discuss their needs and interests relating to diagnosis and treatment. There are guidelines and algorithms for determining levels of distress in cancer patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The pharmacologic treatment of distress, particularly depression, has vastly improved. Randomized controlled trials are becoming available for patients in order to determine the efficacy of psychotropic drugs. Numerous interventions are available to help cancer patients move forward with their lives. Some of these interventions began in the 1980s and have progressed to the use of complementary and alternative medicine techniques as coping strategies for cancer. With the rapid expansion of the Internet, cancer survivors' thirst for information also has grown. Many resources are available to help guide cancer patients through the maze of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

IPOS 2013 Abstract in psycho-oncology Pereira et al

BACKGROUND: Comprehension and assessment of psychological states and coping strategies during spousal bereavement are necessary for hospital staff to provide psychological care in clinical practice. The purposes of this study were (1) to characterize psychological states and coping strategies after bereavement among spouses of cancer patients in Japan and (2) to explore the factors associated with psychological states in oncology settings. METHOD: In March 2009, questionnaires to assess spouses' psychological states, coping strategies, and mental health states (GHQ-28) were sent after patients died at the National Cancer Center of Japan. To address the first purpose, exploratory factor analysis, gender comparison, and calculation of correlation with age, time since bereavement, and mental health states were conducted. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to address the second purpose. RESULTS: A total of 821 spouses experiencing bereavement for 7 months to 7 years participated in the study. Psychological states revealed three factor structures: "Anxiety/Depression/Anger", "Yearning", and "Acceptance/Future-Oriented Feelings". Coping strategies also revealed 3 factor structures: "Distraction", "Continuing Bonds", and "Social Sharing/Reconstruction". Coping strategies represented 18% to 34% of each factor associated with psychological states, whereas the characteristics of bereaved spouses and deceased patients represented 6% and <6%, respectively. More "Distraction and Social Sharing/Reconstruction" and less "Continuing Bonds" were significantly associated coping strategies for achieving "Acceptance/Future-Oriented Feelings" (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Both psychological states and coping strategies after bereavement revealed 3 factor structures. Coping strategies was the primary, bereaved spouses' characteristics was the secondary, and deceased patients' characteristics was the tertiary factor associated with psychological states. Enhancing "Distraction" and "Social Sharing/ Reconstruction", and reducing "Continuing Bonds" might be promising strategies for achieving positive psychological states of the bereaved. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS: Based on the Western theoretical framework of "stress and coping theory", coping strategies were the primary associated factor of psychological states, beyond the characteristics of bereaved spouses/deceased patients. The strategy for encouraging coping strategies would contribute to positive psychological states in the bereaved. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: All 3 factors of coping strategies ("Distraction", "Continuing Bonds", "Social Sharing/Reconstruction") included adaptive and maladaptive items. Each item characteristics would be useful to comprehend and assess whether coping strategies utilized by the bereaved are adaptive or not in clinical practice. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF FUNDING: This research was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Cancer Research and the Third-Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan.

Cancer Care and the Role of Psychosocial Oncology: Where are We and Where are We Going?

Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Cite this article as: Bultz BD. Cancer care and the role of psychosocial oncology: Where are we and where are we going?.

Psychiatric and psychosocial implications in cancer care: the agenda of psycho-oncology

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences

Because of the increasing global cancer burden and the WHO epidemiological estimation in terms of number of new cases, deaths and long-survivors worldwide, an interdisciplinary approach, including psychiatric and psychoncology care is mandatory in oncology. About 50% of cancer patients have in fact been shown to have psychiatric disorders, including clinically significant emotional distress and/or unrecognised or untreated psychosocial conditions as a consequence of cancer at some point during the cancer trajectory. These problems are associated with the patient's reduction of quality of life, impairment in social relationships, longer rehabilitation time, poor adherence to treatment and abnormal illness behaviour. Because of these reasons, the internationally recognised IPOS Standards of Quality Cancer Care underline that psychosocial cancer care should be recognised as a universal human right; that quality cancer care must integrate the psychosocial domain into routine care an...