Differences in crisis reactions among cancer and surgery patients.

To investigate the psychological reactions caused by traumatic events, 31 female cancer patients were compared to 15 female surgery patients and 15 healthy females at each of 5 test periods. Instruments included the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, Halpern Crisis Scale, and Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale. Cancer and surgery patients reported more crisis than healthy Ss. However, cancer patients also reported a strong sense of helplessness, while surgery patients and healthy Ss did not. Discriminant analyses for each test period were able to assign 73–82% of the Ss to their correct groups on the basis of differences in test scores. Results suggest that surgery and cancer are different types of crises, characterized by distinctly different psychological reactions. Contrary to theory, the crises under study did not appear to be resolved within 6–8 wks after onset. In fact, crisis was not resolved within the 15-wk duration of the experiment. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)