The psychological burden that cancer brings usually starts in the form of crippling fear. Who has, when diagnosed, not felt a paralyzing shock that often needed days if not weeks to overcome? It can even dominate people's lives following Dx.
But when does fear of the disease and what it
may bring develop to the point where the fear itself creates health issues, and may itself become a hazard for the individual's well-being, in some cases even creating health issues as serious as the cancer itself?
The article linked below addresses this issue.
From the article:
"A recent Harris poll found that cancer is the most feared disease in the United States; 41 percent of those polled listed it at the top, with Alzheimer’s next, at 31 percent""One example of the impact it has had at the policy level can be seen at the National Institutes of Health which spends more than twice as much researching the molecular biology of cancer ($5.4 billion a year) than on figuring out the mechanisms of heart disease ($2 billion a year), which kills more people""The fear of cancer can contribute to chronic stress, which raises blood pressure and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, and which weakens the immune system and increases the likelihood of all sorts of health problems."The article doesn't offer any sure-fire solutions to "Carcinophobia" (the technically correct medical term for fear of cancer) but just facing the question and realizing that there is a problem would be for many a good place to start.
Quite likely a first-line treatment for any cancer is just getting control of the fear it may be generating, and the problems which that in itself may be causing.
Would it be useful for any of you to bring up your own fear issues regarding PCa (and for certain we have all had them), and in particular
strategies that you have found successful in dealing with them?
The article:
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/cancer-on-the-brain/?_r=0(Also, here's a Youtube video on the subject of beating down cancer fear. The speaker is rather bubbly and a bit of a cheerleader, but she is sincere and does make some good points):
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMEIB5dDW00