By Stanford Medicine
Includes Frequently Asked Questions about how to communicate and cope.
Read on med.stanford.edu
CLEAR ALL
Information and conversation are key to facing the challenges of care
You not calling, as a friend, can actually compound the grief and loss they are feeling. Just pick up the phone, even if you get it wrong, just have a conversation and do your best. Your friend with cancer is still the same person they were before.
For the first time in forever, Nathan Adrian truly has no idea if he’ll have a strong swim Friday. And at this point, it doesn’t really matter to the five-time Olympic gold medalist. He’s simply elated to be back.
‘Skin cancer worked its way into my lymph nodes. I was devastated.’
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A cancer diagnosis brings a wealth of psychological challenges. In fact, adults living with cancer have a six-time higher risk for psychological disability than those not living with cancer.
I often must remind myself that anger needs to be understood as the flip side of the roiling fear that cancer instills in patients and also in caregivers.
Although being in a close relationship during the cancer journey can dramatically improve outcomes, the stress of treatment and the diagnosis itself can take a toll on couples, sometimes in a negative way.
Coping with anger during cancer can be difficult. And although anger is commonly regarded as a negative emotion, it can have advantages for cancer patients.
Many people living with cancer experience anger. Often, the feeling arises when receiving a cancer diagnosis. But it can develop any time throughout treatment and survivorship.
Intense, persistent, and suppressed anger may have a connection to cancer.