Hippocrates in the 5th century BC argued that illness is a disorder of the relationship between a person and the world, and that one cannot treat the body without treating the soul. Centuries later, European medicine moved away from this idea, radically “separating” the soul from the body. For a long time, somatic diseases were treated without connection with the psyche of patients, as if the human body was a simple mechanism. Modern medicine, in particular modern psychology, returns to the ideas of the great philosophers of antiquity that the mental and somatic in a person represent two sides of one thing. More and more research is appearing on psychosomatic processes in the human body, experience is accumulating in syncretic methods of treating diseases, and interest in traditional medical practices of the East is being revived, which have never forgotten the unity of the human body and soul. Modern research confirms that psychological factors play a significant role in the occurrence and course of malignant processes, and cancer patients have similar personality profiles. Most often, families of cancer patients have insufficiently trusting, close relationships, or, on the contrary, too dependent relationships have been established between children and parents. The presence of an authoritarian mother in the family is often noted, and the patient remains psychologically dependent on significant parent. Shortly before the illness (from 1 to 3 years), many patients lost psychological support in life and lost significant emotional connections. The loss became an unbearable trauma for them and led to psychological maladjustment. A typical reaction for cancer patients to life problems, for example, the loss of loved ones or severe stress, is a manifestation of helplessness, refusal to fight and attempts to adapt. Patients fixate on the problem and fall into a state of hopelessness. When faced with a traumatic event, cancer patients experience their feelings within themselves, not allowing them to come out. They also trace the special adherence of such people to generally accepted social norms, forcing them to mask their emotions with external well-being. By hiding their feelings - anger, pain, they believe that in this way they comply with social moral conventions. The tendency of cancer patients to have a pessimistic assessment of events leads to chronic depression and even loss of interest in life. The desire of cancer patients to maintain behavioral stereotypes has been noticed, which indicates a psychological inflexibility. Often patients are not inclined to analyze situations and cause-and-effect relationships, but take a position of dependence on circumstances. Such symptoms are characteristic of infantile individuals. Infantility here must be understood not in an everyday, trivial sense, not as a manifestation of childishness. This is a whole set of traits and characteristics, manifested in many areas of life - emotional, rational and value. Cancer patients experience problems with relaxation, it is difficult for them to relax, as they are characterized by a high level of anxiety. Yulia Ustinova Clinical psychologist Certified specialist in psychotherapy of psychosomatic disorders, existential psychotherapy and group therapy, oncopsychologySource: www.ustinova.info