therapy treat cancer at a specific site while chemotherapy, through its action in the bloodstream, travels through the system and is potentially effective against cancer cells at great distances from the primary site. As the American Cancer Society (1981) has pointed out, most chemotherapeutic agents disrupt the development and reproduction of cells. Malignant cells grow and reproduce more rapidly than normal cells and, hence, are more susceptible to the effects of these drugs. In recent years, treatment approaches to cancers have been effectively combined in what is referred to as combined modality therapy. According to Haller and Glick (1983), the overall attempt of this approach, combining surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, is to maximize the curative potential of each modality while minimizing morbidity. Psychological concepts Even when medical and biological variables such as site, histology, and treatment are held constant, some indi- viduals with cancer survive appreciably longer than others. One of the theories advanced in explanation of this concerns differing host resistance to the tumor (Pendergrass, 1965). As Stavraky et al. (1968) have pointed out, factors have been studied and psychosomatic mechanisms considered as possibly affecting the growth and dissemination of cancer by altering endocrine or autonomic function. As they have pointed out, the growth rates of certain types of cancer depend to some