ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the influence of emotional factors on the develop ment and course of cancer from the perspective of family systems theory. Family systems theory was developed in the 1950’s and early 1960’s by Murray Bowen, first through the study of families with a schizophrenic member and later through study of families with symptoms spanning the full range of emotional problems (Bowen, 1966; Kerr, 1980b).
