How to cope with cancer

Dr Kerry Sherman

Distress and anxiety, loneliness, regret and fear may all be associated with risk, suffering and recovering from cancer. How can these powerful emotions be managed?

“Psychotherapeutic interventions reduce distress and produce better treatment outcomes,” says Dr Kerry Sherman, a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and a consultant two days a week at the NSW Breast Cancer Institute.

She recently supervised Doctor of Psychology student Shab Mireskandari’s study of distress among partners of women at high risk of breast or ovarian cancer, while they are being assessed for genetic risk. An Honours thesis by Jo Sheehan looked at regret among women undertaking breast reconstruction after mastectomy, and how this related to their expectations.

Keeping healthy

In her teaching Sherman specialises in a general approach to how people keep themselves healthy, and also with the stresses and strains of chronic conditions.

Prevention and early detection are the keys to controlling cancer, she says. She recommends people find out as much as they can about their potential risk, by screening for skin cancer, through mammograms or by genetic testing.

“As psychologists, we can help people engage in healthy behaviours,” she says.

If cancer strikes, how can anxiety triggered by not knowing what will happen next, depression brought on by treatments such as radiotherapy, and the stress of contemplating a relapse be controlled?

Psychologists can develop appropriate educational and support programs for women at all stages of the cancer cycle, and also for their partners and carers. A whole new area of concern and research has now also opened up for the many who survive cancer for five or 10 years or longer.

Cancer in Australia

Cancer will strike one in three men and one in four women in Australia before they turn 75.

It is not one disease, but many, varying in causes, treatment, disability suffered and survival rates, according to where it is found in the body, and whether it is detected in its early or advanced stages.

Culture often determines whether women see regular screening such as mammograms as appropriate. Time-poor professionals may put off tests for months. “But you shouldn’t be too busy to look after your health,” says Sherman.

Jobs in health psychology

Psycho-oncology, the psychology of cancer, is a growing field. There are opportunities to work in a hospital setting, directly with patients, or in the kind of research supervised by Sherman.

"There are also lots of opportunities to work in health promotion,” she says. “Area health services can use the theories of health psychology to help develop programs. And there are further opportunities in policy-making.”

For further information, contact Dr Kerry Sherman at kerry.sherman@psy.mq.edu.au. The Department of Psychology is at www.psy.mq.edu.au

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