ABSTRACT
When his health is seriously under attack, the human being has need of affection, approval and security. He must feel that he is a member of a group where exchanges are fruitful and where there is trust. People who maintain significant social and emotional relationships seem to be better able to bear the physical and emotional shock of disease. They are able to share their feelings and their anxieties, and correspondingly appreciate the help that is offered. The social context provides the patient with a protective and stable environment, in the shelter of which he progressively adapts his way of being and his relationships with the outside world. Affective bonds guarantee his self-respect (his healthy narcissism) in the face of aggressive treatments, physical mutilation, modification of social status, and other setbacks brought about by the cancer (particularly the passage from the state of health to that of sickness).
