ABSTRACT
A diagnosis of cancer in an adolescent is a crisis that leads to the disenfranchisement of the entire family through alienation, fear, and isolation. Alienation is caused by the social stigma surrounding cancer, which is characterized by a pervasive, historically based cancerphobia. Fear results from uncertainty about the disease, treatment, and prognosis, as well as from the need of families to relinquish control of their lives and put their trust in an often impersonal, disease-oriented medical establishment. The demands of cancer treatment lead to isolation from other family members and friends as the pattern of the family's day-to-day life is disrupted to meet the demands of treatment, and cancer management becomes the main focus of the family's energies. Isolation is also common within the family as the individual needs of the adolescent, siblings, and parents are subsumed to the demands of treatment.
