Psycho-oncology

Psycho-oncology is a field of interdisciplinary study and practice at the intersection of lifestyle, psychology and oncology. It is concerned with aspects of cancer that go beyond medical treatment and include lifestyle, psychological and social aspects of cancer. Sometimes it is also referred to as psychosocial oncology or "behavioral oncology" because it deals with psychosocial and behavioral topics. The field is concerned both with the effects of cancer on a person's psychological health as well as the social and behavioral factors that may affect the disease process of cancer and/or the remission of it. Practitioners of "proactive psycho-oncology" see their work as an autonomous intervention intended to reverse - in the first place - the epigenetic pressure that led to the genetic changes and later the formation of tumors.