ABSTRACT
In the last three years I have worked in psychotherapy with some twentyfive cancer patients in order to explore the possible relationship between personality and cancer, and if possible to arrest or reverse the cancer. Until recently nothing had prepared me for this task, neither formal academic training, clinical experience, or a culture that encouraged the study of the relationship between personality and cancer. I do remember, as a graduate student, reading about such a possibility. For example, a psychologist was able to predict from the Rorschach test whether a patient would have slowgrowing or fast-growing tumors (Klopfer, 1957). Like many others I was temporarily intrigued, but then put it aside in a sort of “ ho-hum, that’s in teresting’’ compartment of my mind. The proximal cause of my finally pursuing the personality-cancer relationship was a patient’s developing cancer in the midst of two suicide attempts. This juxtaposition reminded me that I had heard, and again filed away for future reference, the story of a local patient having overcome cancer by means of psychological treat ment. Such treatment included the recognition that cancer could be caused or maintained in order to solve emotional problems, that cancer could be a suicidal equivalent. This patient had used, in conjunction with the recogni tion and working through of that idea, a meditation-visualization pro cedure, the whole approach put together by Carl Simonton, a radiation therapist, and Stephanie Simonton, a psychologist.
