The psychological challenges facing melanoma patients.

This article discusses the challenges facing melanoma patients with regard to coping with their illness in ways that foster psychological adjustment and emotional well-being. It focuses especially on the importance of patients maintaining an emotional response that is proportionate to the reality of their illness and that balances the negative and positive aspects, such that the patient is neither underreacting nor overreacting. The many obstacles to achieving a well-proportioned and well-balanced emotional response are discussed. The article also addresses how physicians can help patients meet these psychological challenges.