Psychodynamic interventions in cancer care II: a qualitative analysis of the therapists' reports.

Background: To investigate the focus of psychodynamic-oriented interventions in cancer patients by means of a qualitative analysis of the therapists' reports.

Methods: One hundred thirty-five reports collected within a controlled psychotherapy trial were analyzed; the themes addressed during the intervention were classified in categories reflecting the focus of the intervention and correlated with sociodemographic and medical data and type of intervention.

Results: Twenty main themes were identified and classified in two categories: category 1 corresponded to interventions based on expression and support, and category 2 to interventions based on introspection, with subcategory 2.

[Transplantation with living organ donors: ethical issues].

Living organ donation has raised ethical issues, which have not been fully addressed. The scarcity of organs as well as medical advances promote this procedure. However, the psychological outcome of donors may not be as good as expected.

The delirium subtypes: a review of prevalence, phenomenology, pathophysiology, and treatment response.

Delirium is a highly prevalent disease in the elderly and postoperative, cancer, and AIDS patients. However it is often misdiagnosed and mistreated. This may be partly due to the inconsistencies of the diagnosis itself.

Management of insomnia in patients with chronic pain conditions.

The management of insomnia in patients experiencing chronic pain requires careful evaluation, good diagnostic skills, familiarity with cognitive-behavioural interventions and a sound knowledge of pharmacological treatments. Sleep disorders are characterised by a circular interrelationship with chronic pain such that pain leads to sleep disorders and sleep disorders increase the perception of pain. Sleep disorders in individuals with chronic pain remain under-reported, under-diagnosed and under-treated, which may lead--together with the individual's emotional, cognitive and behavioural maladaptive responses--to the frequent development of chronic sleep disorders.