ABSTRACT
T HERE is little question that breast cancer affects the interper-sonal networks of most people who have it. Research indicatesthat people often do not know what to say to cancer patients (Klein, 1971; Wortman & Dunkel-Schetter, 1979). Since each of us looks to others for reassurance that what we are doing is appropriate, the reactions of others can have a serious impact on the breast cancer patient's decisions about how to cope. Should she express her anger, keep a "stiff upper lip," retreat to obscurity, or surrender to the disease? The way others communicate with her is likely to affect that decision.
