Coping with cancer: psychological dimensions

Manos, Nikolas; Christakis, John

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1985.tb02562.x

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Misery, which also featured in the study, was explained by patients to be due to their inability to work, pain, and concerns of health, family, finance and work as has been observed in other studies (4,25). Of note is the low score on suicide tendency which is also consistent with what is generally observed in the Kenyan population (personal observation).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…It is documented that emotional distress is very common in cancer patients. Research has revealed a high prevalence of psychiatric illness in a variety of populations of cancer patients (2)(3)(4)(5). Adjustment disorders is also reported to be common (3).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of cancer usually it is not just having cancer that elicits problems, it is also the implied connotations that may be attached to the disease such as pain, disfiguration, hospitalisation, loss of work ability, disability and fear of death (2). The ensuing responses depends on how the individual deals with stressful situations and the nature of the stresses imposed by the manifestations and course of the cancer (2)(3)(4). It is possible that patients' reactions to cancer may vary remarkably in different parts of the world depending on age group, cultural, ethnic, social, economic and educational factors (5).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Quality of life in male cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

et al. 2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The quality of life of cancer patients is likely to be influenced by psychological reactions of the cancer patients yet there are no documented issues related to quality of life in cancer patients in Kenyan hospitals. Objective: To investigate issues which affect the quality of life in male cancer patients. Design: Prospective cross sectional study. Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya. Methods and subjects: Cancer patients above 12 years of age were interviewed during the course of their stay in the hospital, specifically to gather information on; semi structured questions and a modified Beck's 24 item depression inventory with a view to solicit for their reaction on issues which pertains to quality of life. Main outcome measures: Age group, level of education, tribe, geographical place (province) of birth, chief complains, main concerns, views on doctors, contact with psychiatrist and psychologist, the anatomic site of cancer, treatment given and responses on modified Beck's depression inventory. Results: Forty two patients were studied, their age range 13-72 years, mean 43.2 and peak 13-26 years. Forty seven per cent of cases had no formal education. The cancers were gastrointestinal tract 33%, blood and lymphoid tissue (26%), bone and muscle (11.9%), skin (9.4%) and genitourinary tract (4.8%). Treatment given was chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. Ninety three per cent were unable to cope. Chief complaints were pain, inability to work, feeling miserable and concerns were families, health and work retardation. Modified Beck's depression score was 20%, with major issues being; work retardation, insomnia, weight loss, and anorexia. Most affected were, age group 27-35 years (and least 13-26 years), uneducated, living in Nairobi (city), having carcinomas, treatment with combined surgery and radiotherapy. Low education level and residence in Nairobi coped poorly. Radiation therapy group appeared to cope better than other modalities. Conclusion: The issues affecting the quality of life of male cancer patients stated were pain, inability to work, poor coping with cancer and psychological reactions of work retardation, insomnia, weight loss, fatigability and depression. Gambling, suicidal ideas and social withdrawal were minimal. Other concerns were families, health and work.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Quality of life in male cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

et al. 2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the present work, serum Trp and kynurenine concentrations after chronic administration of Trp in the above single daily dose for 7 days were increased by 121 and 131% respectively and joint BSZ administration influenced the kynurenine elevation only moderately (data not shown). Although Trp competes with kynurenine for cerebral uptake (see Møller, 1985 and references cited therein), the above proportionate increases are unlikely to cause an imbalance in entry of either compound into the brain. Although BSZ inhibits liver kynurenine aminotransferase activity (data not shown), a similar effect in the brain is unlikely as BSZ does not cross the blood-brain barrier.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tryptophan in Alcoholism Treatment II: Inhibition of the Rat Liver Mitochondrial Low Km Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activity, Elevation of Blood Acetaldehyde Concentration and Induction of Aversion to Alcohol by Combined Administration of Tryptophan and Benserazide

Badawy

Bano

Steptoe

2011

Alcohol and Alcoholism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims: The aims were to provide proofs of mechanism and principle by establishing the ability of the amino acid L-tryptophan (Trp) combined with the kynureninase inhibitor benserazide (BSZ) to inhibit the liver mitochondrial low Km aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity after administration and in vivo and to induce aversion to alcohol. Methods: Trp, BSZ or both were administered to male Wistar rats and ALDH activity was determined both in vitro in liver homogenates and in vivo (by measuring acetaldehyde accumulation in blood after ethanol administration). Alcohol consumption was studied in an aversion model in rats and in alcohol-preferring C57 mice. Results: Combined administration of Trp + BSZ, but neither compound alone, produced a strong inhibition of ALDH activity and an increase in blood acetaldehyde concentration after ethanol, and induced aversion to alcohol in rats and decreased preference in mice. Another kynureninase inhibitor, carbidopa, induced aversion to alcohol by itself, which was reversed by Trp co-administration. Conclusions: The present results establish a prior art for the use of a combination of Trp plus BSZ in the treatment of alcoholism by aversion, which merits rapid clinical development.

show abstract

“…However, antineoplastic treatments have numerous consequences for the mental health of patients, such as stress-related symptoms, psychiatric disorders, anxiety, depression and nausea. For these reasons, specific psychological and pharmacological interventions were subsequently aimed at reducing, retarding or preventing these consequences to improve the patients' HQL [6,11,24,33,47,61]. In this context an increasing number of papers have recently been published on the role and usefulness of psychopharmacological interventions, social support and supportive psychotherapy [19,20,25,47,64].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation by multidimensional instruments of health-related quality of life of elderly cancer patients undergoing three different “psychosocial” treatment approaches

Mantovani

Astara

Lampis

et al. 1996

Support Care Cancer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our study belongs to the clinical trials in which the health-related quality of life (HQL) evaluation constitutes the primary endpoint. It was carried out with the aim of comparing the impact of three different types of psychological intervention, namely a psychopharmacological treatment alone, the same treatment plus social support carried out by volunteers (SSV) and a third treatment modality including "structured psychotherapy" (autogenous training), on improving the HQL of elderly cancer patients undergoing antineoplastic therapy with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression related to their disease. The eight questionnaires used for HQL evaluation were generally self-rated and multidimensional but unidimensional models were also employed. Seventy-four patients aged over 65 years with either solid tumors in different sites or hematological malignancies, generally in advanced stages (III-IV), were enrolled in the study. Of these patients, 72 (42 men and 30 women, mean age 70.68 years, range 66-85) were evaluable. Our study highlighted the usefulness of the pharmacological therapy (alprazolam + sulpiride) and of other specific ancillary treatments in reducing the incidence of the main HQL-related side-effects of antineoplastic therapy and the superiority of an "integrated" strategy, based both on psychopharmacology and psychosocial interventions, such as SSV with or without structured psychotherapy. The one-way analysis of variance carried out by us did not allow us to draw definitive conclusions about which of the two integrated treatments was to be considered the treatment of choice, as they proved to be almost equally effective.

show abstract

Coping with cancer: psychological dimensions

Cited by 25 publications

References 7 publications

Quality of life in male cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

Quality of life in male cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

Tryptophan in Alcoholism Treatment II: Inhibition of the Rat Liver Mitochondrial Low Km Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activity, Elevation of Blood Acetaldehyde Concentration and Induction of Aversion to Alcohol by Combined Administration of Tryptophan and Benserazide

Evaluation by multidimensional instruments of health-related quality of life of elderly cancer patients undergoing three different “psychosocial” treatment approaches

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About