Unique service for cancer patients

A cancer psychology service aims to offer help to the estimated 30 per cent of cancer sufferers who don't cope with the high levels of distress associated with the disease. Massey University's Cancer Psychology Service: Te Ara Whatumanawa offers free help to those affected, including family members who are struggling to deal with distress after a loved one's diagnosis.

The clinic is located at Massey's Manawatu campus and has had an "overwhelmingly positive" response so far, according to clinic director Dr Shane Harvey.

"Despite advances in cancer treatment and continual increases in cancer survival rates, the perception that cancer is still incurable persists," said Dr Colette Nixon, who has studied the impact the therapy had for her doctoral thesis.

Her research found, despite numerous campaigns and positive stories in the media about cancer survivors, for many the word cancer means death and loss. That could be loss of fertility and future family plans, loss of intimacy, loss of income and loss of connection to those around them.

Helping cancer patients manage their emotions at different crisis points is a key aim of the service. These include diagnosis, the start of treatment, the end of treatment, recurrence of cancer and sometimes the terminal phase. If depression is not identified and treated, it can result in poorer outcomes for the cancer treatment.

"The transition from treatment to cancer survivor is frequently a time when a patient's distress levels may increase significantly. Rather than celebratory, people may feel a fear of recurrence," Dr Nixon said.

- Manawatu Guardian

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