Psychosocial

Results of a follow up study have shown that when women were taught stress management techniques early in their breast cancer treatment, their mood and quality of life continued to improve up to 15 years later.

No matter how strong we are, the intense treatments, side effects, and emotional toll of cancer can push a person to her breaking point. If you are lucky, you have someone to help guide you through it.

After nearly four years of cancer treatment, I thought I'd experienced all possible types of scanxiety. I was wrong.

Worrying and cancer go hand-in-hand. It's possible to take a step back from excessive worrying and give yourself a break.

Scan anxiety haunts virtually every person dealing with cancer. Here are a few tips for managing the stress.

When motivating people to get screened for cancer, fear may not be the best way to do it.

Being diagnosed with cancer feels kind of like having a stranger barge into your home, throw everything you care about out the window, shut off the power and heat, then lock you inside … times 100.

The mental noise that comes with cancer is deafening. Taking cancer time-outs can quiet your anxiety.

Learning to cope with a cancer diagnosis is an ongoing process. Coming face to face with death forces one to reexamine what is really important.

Patients and caregivers can only make truly informed decisions about end-of-life care when they understand the natural process of dying, says Tani Bahti, RN.

Only about a third of women undergo immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy, according to a 2011 analysis in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, with 11.5 percent delaying reconstructive surgery for months or years, and more than half of patients foregoing it altogether.