In The Human Side of Cancer, Jimmie C. Holland, M.D.,
of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, explores the broad
range of emotions people with cancer and their loved ones experience
from the moment of diagnosis through the treatment and its aftermath.
What people are saying...
"[This] book so fully covers its
subject matter that it is an experience in itself, providing the
satisfaction that comes from discovering that nothing unimportant
has been included and that nothing of importance has been left
out." --The New England Journal of Medicine
(Read
review)
"For many years Dr. Holland has worked
with knowing dedication in an effort to learn from patients struggling
with cancer--and the result is a book that tells us of the great
ordeal those individuals face, but also of the wisdom they acquire
in the midst of their suffering. Here pioneering psychiatric research
and clinical work become something else, something special: a
human witness to lives as they unfold with dignity as well as
fearful stress."
-- Dr. Robert Coles, author of the Pulitzer
Prize-winning Children in Crisis
"This book is practical and warm, helpful and with heart,
opening new thoughts and ideas while comforting with old-fashioned
wisdom. It is a true treasure for cancer patients and their partners."
-- Helene G. Brown, associate director,
community applications of research, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive
Cancer Center
"Dr. Holland's book will be of invaluable help to anyone
caught up in the saga of cancer-the people who have it, their
caregivers, family, and friends. It is a clear, no-nonsense, and
above all compassionate guide that tells you all the things you
wanted to know but were too afraid to ask. Don't go to the doctor
without it!"
-- Kathleen Chalfant, star of the play
Wit
" Once, Jimmie Holland told me many of these things and
made my life more bearable. Now her extraordinary insights are
available to everyone--a road map that makes a terrifying journey
much less so. She is the bright light in the dark forest, warding
off the monsters with wisdom and concern, easing the torture in
our minds that comes from the disease in our bodies. If you have
cancer, or care for a cancer patient, or simply want to understand
how to talk to someone who's been diagnosed, I urge you to read
this book. It will change your life."
-- Lynn Sherr, ABC News, 20/20
"Dr. Holland, in her inimitable combination of warmth, wisdom,
and compassion, speaks out from the printed page. She accompanies
the patient and family through the uncharted experience of living
with a life-threatening illness in all its facets--the sadness,
the uncertainty, the hope. Unlike many books which promise hope
through-in her words -"the tyranny of positive thinking,"
Dr. Holland provides a sense of hope through her profound understanding
of the human experience. Any individual or family confronted with
cancer will find a gentle and sage companion in this book."
-- Barbara M. Sourkes, Ph.D., Montreal
Children's Hospital/ McGill University; author of The Deepening
Shade: Psychological Aspects of Life- Threatening Illness and
A Armfuls of Time: The Psychological Experience of the Child with
a Life- Threatening Illness
"In The Human Side of Cancer, Dr. Jimmie Holland has opened
up the black box of emotional turmoil that reverberates in the
minds of cancer patients and their families. This pioneer in psychooncology
also provides helpful guidance in specific techniques of self-empowerment.
Importantly, she takes the burden of the disease off the shoulders
of the patients. Anyone touched by cancer, personally or in a
friend or loved one, should turn for help and comfort to this
outstanding distillation of a lifelong professional experience
with the emotional repercussions of cancer."
-- Sidney J. Winawer, M.D., Paul Sherlock
Chair in Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; author
of Healing Lessons
"It is must reading for cancer patients and their loved
ones."
