When we hear the word ‘cancer’ what awakens us immediately and inevitably in most people is a feeling of fear, anguish, uncertainty, concern … and that is that, although we have been living with this disease for many years and we know each time more about it, even today we still cannot find a real cure, which causes the death figures in Spain and other European countries to be chilling. Given this scenario, it is totally normal and natural for the emotion of fear to invade us.
According to a study carried out by scientific societies and in collaboration with the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) we are suffering a decrease in the number of diagnoses and a reduction in the start of treatments in the population with cancer , as a consequence of the arrival from COVID-19 to our world.
And it is that at present, and despite the pandemic in Spain, it is still very important and a priority not to forget the need for psychological monitoring of patients with cancer and their environment and the consequences and beneficial effects of these psychological interventions.
Because at the present time, if we compare with previous decades, the quality of life of cancer patients has improved a lot. With regard to treatment, we know that the diagnosed patient, even with this progress, to a greater or lesser degree, will suffer great emotional discomfort, certain sudden changes and will live hard, complicated and very difficult moments that can impair quality of life and make live your process from the worst of positions.
In relation to this and thanks to scientific evidence, we know first-hand that the emotional distress suffered by these patients and also by their relatives (from the beginning of the diagnosis to the end of the treatments carried out) is very high [ Hernández M, Antonio Cruzado J. ‘Psychological care for cancer patients: from evaluation to treatment’. Clinic and Health. 2013] and therefore not forgetting about them and working from psychology to minimize it, it is still fundamental.
High levels of anxiety and depression are two of the pathologies that correlate in a very direct way and that are present (between 5% and 60% of the population) when the diagnosis of “cancer” breaks into their daily lives. [ Walker J, Hansen CH, Martin P, Symeonides S, Ramessur R, Murray G, et al. Articles ‘Prevalence, associations, and adequacy of treatment of major depression in patientswithcancer: a cross-sectionalysis of routinelycollectedclinical data’. www.thelancet.com/psychiatry. 2014; 1 (5): 343–50 .]
Psychology helps a lot, of course it helps, it has been shown that psychological therapies and psychosocial treatments positively influence the quality of life of cancer patients.
And not only accompanying from psychology in a general way, but working more particularly from positive psychology, focusing on the strengths of the patient, also gives us hopeful results. And it is that, for example, in the case of the strength of optimism, it has been associated with a higher quality of life in adolescent cancer patients. (Optimism and health-related quality of life in adolescentswith cancer. MM Mannix, Jonathan M. Feldman and Karen Moody)
Also thanks to positive psychology, it is possible to work on the strength of curiosity, which, as shown in Barcelona by two studies by the research group led by Cristian Ochoa, ICO psycho-oncologist and researcher at the Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (Idibell), carried out Together with the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), it helps to improve the mood and reduce the anguish suffered by these patients. In fact, the ICO Psycho-Oncology Unit, since it became aware of this, made a turn in its interventions, assuming and incorporating positive therapy as a key element in its protocols.
In relation to the resilience capacity and the improvement of the immune system, the conclusions reached by various studies are contradictory, incoherent and inconclusive.
But they do agree that resilience plays a fundamental role throughout the disease process , and it would be more than convenient to promote optimal resilience models because the way in which cancer patients cope with their disease will directly influence their health status. .
There is still much to do so that the word ‘cancer’ awakens in us pleasant emotions other than fear (invest much more funds in research, work from schools with the little ones in prevention, diagnose earlier and better, educate and emphasize the importance of healthy lifestyle habits …) but personally I do not want to stop thinking and believing that we are on the way and that is that according to data from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), 53% of people with cancer can be cured; This is more than half and only 10% of cancer is inherited . Let’s stick with this for now.
We are going to put into practice what we know works and let medical and psychological advances, and that qualified personnel continue to work and that in a few years that 53% will become 99%.
Sonia Castro, psychologist at the European Institute of Positive Psychology (IEPP)
