ABSTRACT
Technical advances achieved in the treatment of cancer such as surgeries, chemotherapies, and radiation prolong the survival of cancer patients, but are often accompanied by chronic disease, emotional trauma, and loss. Patients are forced to make tremendous inner changes, as multiple mourning processes are activated. Short case vignettes with pictorial illustrations and dialogs by adult cancer patients, accompanied by the author’s comments will elucidate particular transference and countertransference problems, as taught by Edith Kramer years earlier, and as manifested in the early stages of cancer, as well as in the pre-terminal and terminal stages.
