Overview
Anxiety is a normal reaction to cancer. One may experience anxiety while
undergoing a cancer screening test, waiting for test results, receiving a diagnosis of cancer, undergoing cancer treatment, or anticipating a recurrence of cancer. Anxiety associated with cancer may increase feelings of pain,
interfere with one's ability to sleep, cause nausea and vomiting, and interfere
with the patient's (and his or her family's) quality of life. If left
untreated, severe anxiety may even shorten a patient's life.
Persons with cancer will find that their feelings of anxiety increase or
decrease at different times. A patient may become more anxious as cancer
spreads or treatment becomes more intense. The level of anxiety experienced by
one person with cancer may differ from the anxiety experienced by another
person. Most patients are able to reduce their anxiety by learning more about
their cancer and the treatment they can expect to receive. For some patients,
particularly those who have experienced episodes of intense anxiety before
their cancer diagnosis, feelings of anxiety may become overwhelming and
interfere with cancer treatment. Most patients who have not had an anxiety
condition before their cancer diagnosis will not develop an anxiety disorder associated with cancer.
Intense anxiety associated with cancer treatment is more likely to occur in
patients with a history of anxiety disorders and patients who are experiencing
anxiety at the time of diagnosis. Anxiety may also be experienced by patients
who are in severe pain, are disabled, have few friends or family members to
care for them, have cancer that is not responding to treatment, or have a
history of severe physical or emotional trauma. Central nervous system metastases and tumors in the lungs may create physical problems that cause
anxiety. Many cancer medications and treatments can aggravate feelings of
anxiety.
Contrary to what one might expect, patients with advanced cancer experience
anxiety due not to fear of death, but more often from fear of uncontrolled
pain, being left alone, or dependency on others. Many of these factors can be
alleviated with treatment.
Back to Top
< Previous Section | Next Section > |