Psychopharmacologic management during cancer treatment

The patient with cancer faces many stressors during the course of the illness, including fears of death, disability, disfigurement, dependency, and abandonment, as well as disruptions in relationships, role functioning, and financial status. Although such concerns are universal, the level of psychological distress varies depending on psychologic, medical, and social factors. As people are becoming more optimistic about cancer survival as a result of improved cancer treatments, patients and their families are more interested in quality-of-life issues, including psychologic well-being and treatment of psychiatric issues, during and after cancer treatment. In this article, we discuss the psychopharmacologic management of the commonly seen psychiatric syndromes of anxiety, depression and delirium during cancer treatment.