Psychological states in terminal cancer patients as measured over time.

Examined the level of and the change over time in denial, death anxiety, anxiety, depression, hostility, love, being, and self-esteem in terminal cancer patients. Ss were 30 cancer patients (aged 51–74 yrs), 27 arthritic patients (aged 52–75 yrs) who constituted a chronically ill, but not terminal, control group, and 30 healthy control Ss (aged 51–76 yrs). Psychometric instruments to assess the psychological states (the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Death Anxiety Scale, and the Being and Love scales of the Personal Orientation Inventory) were administered 3 times at 6-wk intervals. The cancer patients had significantly lower death anxiety than the control Ss, and a relative increase in the Being variable over time. There was little evidence of appreciable denial of serious illness in the cancer patients and an inverse relation between death anxiety and denial, which lends some support to clinical opinions that denial protects against death anxiety. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)