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The Adjustment Disorders
Treatment
Individual and Group Counseling and Psychotherapy
Medications
Adjustment disorders include behaviors or moods more extreme than expected in reaction to a cancer diagnosis, treatment, recurrence, or side effects. These behaviors or moods may result in significant problems in functioning with family, friends, and at work. An adjustment disorder usually begins within three months of the first signs of distress, for example a cancer diagnosis. Some patients may develop a chronic adjustment disorder because they experience multiple causes of distress, one right after another (for example, the cancer diagnosis, the start of treatment, side effects of treatment, completion of treatment, and returning to work). Chronic adjustment disorders may become a more serious mental disorder (for example major depression). This is more common in children and adolescents than in adults. (See the PDQ summary on Pediatric Supportive Care for more information.)
Treatment
Individual and Group Counseling and Psychotherapy
Treatment that focuses on the patient's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors may be used to relieve emotional distress in individual patients or groups. The following are examples of these techniques:
Medications
Counseling or psychotherapy should be tried before medication. If the patient does not improve with short-term psychotherapy or develops a more severe mental disorder, such as depression, the doctor will then prescribe the appropriate medication. (Refer to the PDQ summaries on Depression and Anxiety Disorder for more information.)
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