Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Ways Of Thinking About Illness Representations Of Cancer, Ian Zachary Pervil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For people who have illnesses with vague or diffuse symptoms, such as systemic cancers that lack solid masses or tumors (e.g. leukemia), the process of adjustment appears more difficult than for those with clearly-defined symptoms. Dual systems theory attempts to understand this phenomenon by contending that individuals rely upon two modes of cognitive processing when conceptualizing illnesses: implicit, System 1 processes and explicit, System 2 processes. Those with illnesses whose symptoms lack specificity may rely more heavily on System 1 processing and have greater difficulty adjusting.

This study tested whether illness representations mediate the relationship between cancer patients' tumor status …