Verres R
Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 1985 Sep;45(9):583-91. doi: 10.1055/s-2008-1036375.
There are complex interacting factors at work both in the frequent social ostracism of cancer patients and in their self-imposed stigmatisation. Attribution of guilt and fantasies about the infectiousness of cancer are cited as examples of how the layman's concept of the disease often includes metaphorical elements. "Victimization" of the cancer patient on the part of a healthy person can often be interpreted as a defence mechanism in the process of the latter's coming to terms with his own fears and at the same time it may be due to unconscious justification of his tendency to keep distance. In view of the widespread tendency of people to behave insincerely and ambiguously towards cancer patients, it is shown how difficult it is for these patients to recognize any clear pattern in the reactions of others. This explains many of the conformist and defensive forms of behaviour adopted by cancer patients; however, such behaviour tends to reinforce isolation, rather than to dispel it. The feelings of cancer patients are frequently disregarded in medical institutions and this may take on the character of an "institutional defence"; this is a further reason why there are also many doctors (as well as laymen) who believe that they can do nothing to help overcome the psychosocial isolation of cancer patients.
在癌症患者频繁遭受社会排斥以及他们自我施加污名化的过程中，存在着复杂的相互作用因素。将罪责归咎于患者以及认为癌症具有传染性的幻想，被引为例证，用以说明外行人对这种疾病的认知往往包含隐喻元素。健康人对癌症患者的“伤害行为”，通常可被理解为前者在面对自身恐惧时的一种防御机制，同时也可能源于其下意识地为保持距离的倾向寻找借口。鉴于人们普遍对癌症患者表现出不真诚和含糊的态度，这表明癌症患者很难从他人的反应中识别出任何清晰的模式。这解释了癌症患者所采取的许多从众和防御性的行为方式；然而，这种行为往往会加剧而非消除他们的孤立感。在医疗机构中，癌症患者的感受常常被忽视，这可能具有“机构性防御”的特征；这也是为何许多医生（以及外行人）认为他们无法帮助克服癌症患者心理社会孤立状况的另一个原因。
