Few people ever feel prepared to get a cancer diagnosis. Hearing you have cancer can set off a range of emotions in you and those who love you. Depression, anxiety, stress, and trouble sleeping are all common emotional and mental health challenges that cancer patients face.
Feeling mentally strong can help you get through diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. But all too often, people try to put on a brave face and hide their feelings.
How you cope with your emotions matters. Here are some tips to help you stay mentally strong with cancer and cope in a healthy way:
Understand Your Cancer Diagnosis
Understanding your cancer diagnosis and treatment plan can help you manage your anxiety and concerns. When you first get your diagnosis, all the information you receive can leave you feeling overwhelmed and confused. To help you process it, bring a trusted friend or family member to your appointments.
Your cancer care team can also answer any questions and guide your treatment. There’s no such thing as a dumb question or asking too many. Having open and honest discussions with your cancer care team can help you feel heard and supported.
At UPMC Hillman Cancer Center’s Center for Counseling and Cancer Support, our expert psychologists and psychiatrists are here to help you and your family make a plan for meeting the challenges of cancer.
The Gumberg Family Resource Center, located on the ground floor of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, also provides learning materials for patients, their families, and their caregivers. UPMC’s Health Library offers an online database of searchable articles on different types of cancer and common questions and concerns about cancer.
Know You’re Not Alone
Having mixed emotions when living with cancer is normal. Your feelings can vary day to day or even minute to minute. Feeling sad, angry, guilty, anxious, overwhelmed, or fearful are normal responses to such a serious and life-changing diagnosis.
Developing mental health issues related to your cancer diagnosis is also common. More than two in 10 will develop depression, according to the National Cancer Institute. Nearly half of cancer patients report having a lot of distress — emotional, mental, social, or spiritual suffering.
Talk to a Mental Health Professional
Managing mental health problems can help improve your chances of long-term survival. Separate studies of breast cancer and lung cancer patients found mental health interventions decreased their risk of dying from their cancer.
Many cancer centers include a mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker, as part of their cancer care team. Consider seeing one soon after your diagnosis. They can help you navigate the ups and downs of going through cancer.
If you already see a mental health professional for a mental health issue, continue to do so. Going through cancer can put added stress on existing mental health conditions.
Mental health professionals can treat your mental health issues with talk therapy, medication, or both.
Speak up About How You’re Feeling
If you notice any mental health changes during treatment, let your cancer doctor know. Changes, such as depression, are sometimes side effects of cancer treatment.
Your doctor can review your treatment, change your medications, or offer suggestions that may help. They can also review your physical health for other things that may cause mental health changes.
Also, speak up about any physical symptoms. Uncontrolled cancer pain, for example, increases your risk of depression. Your doctor can prescribe medications or other treatments to help manage pain and other symptoms.
Learn to Manage Stress
More than one in three cancer patients or survivors show signs of post-traumatic stress (PTS) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That’s according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Don’t ignore your stress. People who practice avoidance to cope face a greater risk of developing cancer-related PTS or PTSD. Talking about what you’re going through with a mental health professional or family and friends can help you manage stress.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health lists these coping strategies as helpful:
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction — Evidence finds that practicing this leads to less anxiety, depression, fatigue, and stress and a better quality of life.
- Tai chi or qigong — These traditional Chinese forms of exercise that combine gentle movements and breathing techniques. Studies have found that they improve fatigue, sleep quality, and overall quality of life.
- Yoga. — Evidence shows that yoga-based interventions can help ease symptoms of depression and anxiety, reduce fatigue, and improve overall quality of life.
Though these interventions are generally considered safe, talk to your doctor to find out whether they’re right for you.
Join a Cancer Support Group
Feeling alone when explaining cancer to someone who’s never gone through it is common. Through shared experiences, cancer support groups can help you feel less alone. Some support groups meet in person, some meet online, and some are specific to certain cancers or age groups.
Get Help Managing Your Finances
Financial stress can contribute to mental health issues. Three out of four people with cancer worry about how they’ll pay for treatment or manage their daily costs of living, according to the ACS. Your cancer social worker can provide resources to help you manage the financial stress of cancer.
Assign an Information Gatekeeper
Constantly answering questions about your cancer can drain your emotional energy. Most people are well-meaning, but sometimes what they say isn’t helpful. To reduce this stress, pick a gatekeeper who updates family and friends and filters questions and advice.
Watch What You Say
If your loved one is going through cancer, you may wonder what you can do to help them stay mentally strong. Start by watching what you say.
Telling someone with cancer to just stay positive can often make them feel worse. Allow them to express their feelings instead of giving them a pep talk. Before you offer advice, make sure they want it or want someone to listen in the first place.
For more tips, read this UPMC HealthBeat article titled How Can I Support Someone Diagnosed with Cancer?
Seek Help in Survivorship
Surviving cancer means doctors can no longer find any evidence of cancer in your body. But not everyone experiences instant emotional relief when they get the all-clear. For many people, cancer is a lasting traumatic experience.
Many cancer survivors have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Cancer survivors are also twice as likely than the general population to die by suicide. That’s according to the National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco and Cancer Control.
Joining a survivorship program, like UPMC Hillman’s Survivorship Program, can help you transition from cancer patient to cancer survivor.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on , and was last reviewed on .
Sources
National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco and Cancer Control. Mental Health Impacts of a Cancer Diagnosis. Link
National Cancer Institute. Depression (PDQ®)—Patient Version. Link
American Cancer Society. Cancer-Related Post-Traumatic Stress and PTSD. Link
National Cancer Institute. Study Links Mental Health Treatment to Improved Cancer Survival. Link
American Cancer Society. Financial Hardship. Link
National Cancer Institute. Adjustment to Cancer: Anxiety and Distress (PDQ®)—Patient Version. Link
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Cancer and Complementary Health Approaches: What You Need to Know. Link