New frontiers and challenges of psychiatry in oncology and palliative care.

The role of psychiatry in oncology and palliative care has reached a level of recognition in different countries. The chapter summarises the recent develpoments of psychiatry in these two specific medical areas by discussing the most recent scientific literature in the field and by analyzing the sychosocial morbidity in cancer and the role of screening of emotional distress; the ICD and DSM psychiatric nosological systems and the need for further conceptualization in oncology and palliative care, especially for depressive disorders and adjustment disorders and for the rubric psychological factors infl uencing a medical condition; Psychiatry in palliative care: from searching for meaningto the problem of assisted suicide in palliative care; Psychiatry and oncology: the role for vulnerable sectors of the population; Psychopharmacology: new applications of psychotropic drugs in oncology and palliative care.