[Mental care for cancer patients in the clinical practice of consultation-liaison psychiatry].

Psycho-oncology is one of the most important fields of consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLP), and it can be said that there is a substantial overlap between both fields. In recent years, there has been a particular focus on medical care for cancer patients provided by palliative care teams. This type of medical care has the following two characteristics from the perspective of the organizational theory of CPL. One is that this type of medical care has elements of both medical care of a consultation model and medical care of a liaison model. The other is that dual team medicine combining team medicine within a palliative care team and team medicine between the palliative care team and a primary doctor and floor nurses is performed. Such an understanding is important in order to enrich medical care provided by palliative care teams in the future. Moreover, in clinical CLP, there are some characteristics that are frequently and specifically observed in cancer patients. Among those, patients may have a feeling of helplessness due to the absence of effective self-care and limitations on the ability of the patients to act by themselves. An empowerment approach is effective for this, and we have described the actual methods for carrying out such an approach.