BODY-ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER

Abstract

The need to study the influence of body-oriented psychotherapy on the psycho-emotional consequences of cancer in children and adolescents during treatment is dictated by the high prevalence of mental disorders during hospitalization and insufficient knowledge of the possibility of their compensation. Purpose: to analyze the literature to study the influence of body-oriented psychotherapy on the psycho-emotional consequences of cancer in children and adolescents during treatment. General information. The most commonly reported and most concerning symptoms are pain associated with diagnostic procedures and treatments, nausea and fatigue, and negative self-perception of body image leading to low self-esteem and affecting the ability to form healthy relationships with peers. Children experience increased levels of depression and anxiety, as well as social skill deficits, greater physical weakness during physical activities, sleep disturbances and body image disturbances. Body techniques effectively open the way to the somatic unconscious and the elimination of the blocks identified in it, since the human body is a material reflection of all the emotional states he has experienced. The use of body-oriented psychotherapy methods normalizes the psychosomatic state. Taking into account the psychological characteristics of children and adolescents, the most common methods of body-oriented psychotherapy in this age category of patients are various variations of touch and movements in combination with other methods. The goal of psychotherapeutic work with adolescents and children with cancer is, first of all, prevention and correction of psychopathological reactions. Timely psychotherapy provided to cancer patients in childhood will help harmonize the psycho-emotional state associated with the treatment, especially after mutilating operations. Among the many psychotherapeutic techniques used in the structure of helping children and adolescents, body-oriented therapy has found the most widespread use. One of the advantages of TOP is its versatility. That is, the technique can be successfully used in the treatment of many psychological disorders, as well as integrated and combined with other therapeutic approaches (art therapy, music therapy, acupressure, etc.). To reduce the incidence of mental pathology after illness and achieve its maximum compensation, a multidisciplinary approach is required.