A mono-institutional prospective study on the effectiveness of a specialist psychotherapeutic intervention (POI) started at the diagnosis of XXXX .

@entity1 @entity308 @entity146 @entity5 @entity148
PURPOSE: We evaluated the effectiveness of an early POI in newly diagnosed @entity5 @entity1 in reducing the occurrence of @entity146 disturbances. METHODS: We designed a mono-institutional prospective study involving all new @entity1 admitted to the Oncology Department of Fatebenefratelli and Ophtalmic Hospital in Milan from January 2005 until September 2008. During the first visit, the oncologist could offer support with a psycho-oncologist. The @entity1 who accepted had a first interview (T0), during which they took a self-evaluation test (HADS, @entity148 and @entity308 scale). On the basis of the score, the psycho-oncologist could offer psychotherapy and/or pharmacological intervention, if necessary. At the end of the eight sessions (T1), the @entity1 repeated the self-evaluation test with the HADS, and we analysed both the difference in the HADS score between T0 and T1 and the clinical evaluation of the psycho-oncologist. RESULTS: Three hundred eighteen @entity1 were evaluated with a psychoanalytical psychotherapy approach by two psycho-oncologists through a first interview and 90 of them were eligible for the present study also for the evaluation of HADS. The average HADS score in T0 was 15.26 for @entity308 (sd=3.21) and 13.86 for @entity148 (sd   =   2.05). The reassessment at the end of the psychotherapy (T1) showed an average HADS score of 5.94 for @entity308 (sd   =   3.11) and 6.58 for @entity148 (sd   =   2.88). Only five @entity1 were treated with a pharmacological approach alone. CONCLUSIONS: Considering all the limits of our study, we may conclude that an early POI significantly reduces @entity1 ' @entity146 symptoms and the risk of a negative evolution of pathological situations in those @entity1 who are motivated and express a need for psychological help.
