Perceptions of Cancer

Cancer has major metaphoric significance not only to the public, but also to different medical specialties. This perception can determine patients’ attitudes toward the disease, as well as whether and when cancer is diagnosed and treated. The public has the same inexorably doomed image of the many diseases included in the term “cancer.” Some cancers are highly curable, and most are more likely cured if found early. As Susan Sontag has emphasized, the disease must be demythologized. Not only do the varying perceptions of cancer affect the public, these images also influence the different medical specialties. This chapter presents the differing presentations in medicine, the press, public discussion, and literature. All of these can distort the understanding and appropriate treatment of cancer, the most curable of the serious chronic diseases. Special attention is given to the preparation of the young oncologist in training.