Demoralization and depression in patients with advanced cancer: Prevalence and related symptoms

The concept of demoralization (DS) has been widely used to describe states of “nonspecific“ distress, a self-perceived incapacity to deal effectively with a specific stressful situation or a combination of distress and feelings of subjective incompetence. Particularly emphasis has been placed on the distinction between DS, anhedonia and symptoms of depression, which seem phenomenologically closely related. Aim of this study was to explore prevalence of demoralization and depression in patients with advanced cancer. Patients with heterogeneous tumor sites (UICC cancer stages III/IV or cancer recurrence) were recr…