Maintaining a positive focus can minimize psychologic distress in survivors of esophageal cancer, according to a new survey. Survey results also revealed that time spent relaxing and reflecting can cause poor psychologic health. Because this population experiences a higher rate of anxiety and depression than survivors of breast, prostate, lung, and gastrointestinal cancers, researchers surveyed survivors and their caregivers, both of whose perceptions influenced the survivors’ mental health. For survivors, their perceptions of less severe consequences from their condition and more personal control over their condition facilitated improved emotional health. Caregivers’ perceptions, however, also affected the survivors, with many reporting high levels of psychologic distress when their caregiver believed the condition had severe consequences for the survivor or the medical staff had little control over the condition.
The complete study is published in the May issue of Journal of Psychosomatic Research (http://www.jpsychores.com/article/S0022-3999(10)00282-5/abstract).
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