Organizing a Clinical Psychology Service in Oncology: A Psychoanalytically Oriented Model Supporting Patients, Caregivers, and Healthcare Professionals

The experience of cancer may compromise core psychological functions such as affect regulation, symbolization, and mentalization in patients and caregivers, while also generating psychological distress among healthcare professionals and affecting the teams and institutions responsible for providing care. This article aims to describe, from a conceptual and organizational perspective, the organization of a Clinical Psychology Service in Oncology in which objectives and interventions are guided by a psychoanalytic conception of the mind, the group, and the institution, with the aim of responding to the psychological needs arising from illness while supporting the entire care system. The proposed organizational model integrates psychological interventions for patients and caregivers with support for healthcare professionals and multidisciplinary teams, as well as attention to the emotional and relational processes involved in institutional functioning. Within this framework, clinical psychology is intended to facilitate the early recognition of psychological distress, support continuity of psychological care, and promote a more nuanced understanding of the psychological processes involved in illness and caregiving. By fostering opportunities for affect regulation, symbolization, and mentalization across individual, group, and institutional levels, the model seeks to support reflective functioning, interdisciplinary communication, and the quality of care relationships. Potential implications for healthcare professionals’ psychological well-being, treatment adherence, the appropriateness of care, and healthcare resource use remain theoretical hypotheses requiring empirical investigation.