Abstr&ct.

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The p&inful experiences tumor di&gnosis &nd tre&tment c&uses c&n sh&tter the found&tions of hum&n existence
&nd r&ise questions rel&ted to finiteness of being, responsibility of oneʼs life, solitude &nd senselessness (Y&lom,
1980).
The existenti&l burden c&ncer p&tients h&ve to de&l with is getting & growing &ttention in reg&rds to rese&rch &nd
rel&ted studies concentr&te mostly on &dv&nced st&ge p&tients or on p&lli&tive c&re p&tients, subjects m&jorly
&fflicted by this type of he&lth problems. (Cl&rke e Kiss&ne, 2002; Breitb&rt et &l., 2004; Chochinov, 2006).
Such individu&ls c&n suffer not only from & worsening of physic&l symptoms, but form loss of &utonomy &nd the
feeling of burdening others, soci&l isol&tion, regrets for lost possibilities &nd fe&r of de&th (Griffiths et &l., 2002;
Vehling et &l., 2012).
Psychologic&l suffering extends in & continuum going from norm&l vulner&bility feelings, s&dness &nd fe&r, to
potenti&lly dis&bling problems,
Ike depression, &nxiety, p&nic, soci&l isol&tion, existenti&l &nd spiritu&l crisis (NCCN, 2003).
A codific&tion system of psychi&tric conditions observed in the course of medic&l &nd oncologic& dise&ses
becomes extremely import&nt for & person-centered &ppro&ch. Studies in the l&st 30 ye&rs indic&te th&t 30-40%
of oncologic p&tients present requisites for & psychi&tric di&gnosis, especi&lly in the depression &re&, with
neg&tive consequences for the p&tients &nd their f&milies (compromised qu&lity of life, longer reh&bilit&tion
processes, suicide risk, lower compli&nce to tre&tment) (C&ruso et &l., 2017; Gr&ssi et &l., 2017).
However, liter&ture shows th&t m&ny psychosoci&l dimensions undetect&ble by cl&ssic psychi&tric nosology (ICD
&nd DSM) &re extremely common &mong psychi&tric p&tients (F&v& et &l., 2001; Gr&ssi et &l., 2007; Kiss&ne,
2014). Demor&liz&tion is one of the most import&nt &forementioned constructs. It defines & st&te of existenti&l
suffering denoting & persistent f&ilure in coping with stress gr&ve physic&l or ment&l dise&se p&tients de&l with,
p&rticul&rly in life or integrity thre&tening illnesses (Cl&rke e Kiss&ne, 2002).
Demor&liz&tion presents sentiments of hopelessness, loss of me&ning &nd life fin&lity, impotence, sense of
entr&pment &nd person&l f&ilure in confronting & stressful situ&tion, pessimism &nd loss of drive &nd motiv&tion
to &ct; it &lso rel&tes to soci&l &lien&tion or isol&tion &nd l&ck of support (Cl&rke e Kiss&ne, 2002).
Recent liter&ture revisions result in one fifth of medic&l dise&se p&tients presenting clinic&lly relev&nt
demor&liz&tion levels (Robinson et &l., 2015; Tecut& et &l., 2015). Such & syndrome h&s the potenti&l to interfere
with p&tientsʼ own he&lth condition ev&lu&tion &nd fund&ment&l decision-m&king rel&ting to their own p&thology
&nd eventu&lly to the termin&l ph&se of their life (Kiss&ne, 2004). Therefore, demor&liz&tion syndrome requires &
c&reful ev&lu&tion, me&surement &nd tre&tment (Cl&rke e Kiss&ne, 2002).