Coping with Breast Cancer: A Practical Guide to Understanding, Treating, and Living with Breast Cancer

Describes the symptoms and treatment of breast cancer, and discusses the emotional, financial, and day-to-day aspects of living with the disease

Phillips, a practicing psychologist, and Goldstein, a social worker, counsel breast cancer patients at the Center for Coping in Long Island, NY. Here they briefly discuss the disease and its treatments, but the bulk of the book is broken down into compact categories and subcategories that cover guilt, fear, coping mechanisms, stress, pain, diet, exercise, responding to others, etc., which basically could apply to anyone undergoing diagnosis and treatment for any cancer or serious illness or anyone suffering from depression. Each chapter is summarized in from one to three brief paragraphs with cutesy headings: "An Anti-Depressing Summary," "A Final Guiltless Thought," and "And Now, the Climax" for the section on sex. There are much better books on breast cancer for the newly diagnosed (e.g., John Link's The Breast Cancer Survival Manual, LJ 3/1/98, Vladimir Lange's Be a Survivor: Your Guide to Breast Cancer Treatment, LJ 6/15/98, and Marisa C. and Ellen Weiss's Living Beyond Breast Cancer, LJ 9/15/97) that cover many of the same topics in a less diffuse manner. The information in Phillips and Goldstein's volume is general enough to make it useful for most libraries, but their book is not a first choice for breast cancer sufferers. For comprehensive health collections.ABette-Lee Fox, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.