Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
30
pubmed:dateCreated
1996-11-5
pubmed:abstractText
Half of all cancer patients have a psychiatric disorder, usually an adjustment disorder with depression. Anxiety about illness, such as cancer, often leads to delay in diagnosis, which has been estimated to reduce prospects of long-term cancer survival by 10% to 20%. Although earlier studies showed that depressed individuals were at higher risk for cancer incidence, later studies have not confirmed this predictive relationship. Nonetheless, effective psychotherapeutic treatment for depression has been found to affect the course of cancer. Psychotherapy for medically ill patients results in reduced anxiety and depression, and often pain reduction. In three randomised studies, psychotherapy resulted in longer survival time for patients with breast cancer (18 months), lymphoma, and malignant melanoma. The physiological mechanisms for these findings have not yet been determined, but four fundamental possibilities for psychotherapeutic effects on physiological change include health maintenance behaviour, health-care utilisation, endocrine environment, and immune function. Thus, effective treatment of depression in cancer patients results in better patient adjustment, reduced symptoms, reduced cost of care, and may influence disease course. The treatment of depression in these patients may be considered a part of medical as well as psychiatric treatment.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jun
pubmed:issn
0960-5371
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
109-16
pubmed:dateRevised
2008-2-22
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1996
pubmed:articleTitle
Cancer and depression.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5544, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review