[Psychosocial factors in carcinogenesis: on the problem of the so-called cancer-prone personality].

Without distinguishing between the heterogeneous types of the disease which are implied in the term "cancer" a stereotype--the cancer-prone personality--is regarded as the essential cause of the disease. Their striking characteristics are quoted as follows: depressive mood, social conformity, restrained expression of needs and emotions, reduced perception of physical symptoms, etc. In a prebioptical prospective study, basing on semi-structured interviews carried out at two different points of time, with 230 women with breast tumours and 95 patients with a suspected lung cancer, the theory of a psychosocial cancer ethiology was examined with regard to the following aspects: do the psychological phenomena observed reflect a premorbide personality structure or do they represent reactions to the disease? Is it possible to register personality related phenomena in the preventive behaviour and are there specific differences in the perception of the symptoms? Through this quasi-experimental approach it was possible to distinguish between the influence of the personal expectancy concerning the diagnosis and the effect of the actual disease. This way it was proven that psychological phenomena of cancer patients are to be understood as the result and not as the cause of the disease.