Psychological morbidity among cancer patients--who needs help?

The psychological problems associated with cancer and its treatment can cause a great deal of morbidity for both patients and their families. Signs of anxiety and depression should not be dismissed by physicians and other care-givers as overreactions or simply unavoidable mental states in a patient with a disease as serious as cancer. Rather, physicians should be on the alert for isolation, hopelessness, helplessness, anxiety, depression, poor body image, and sexual problems, and then treat them appropriately, through counseling, desensitization, reconstructive surgery, or the use of antidepressants or anxiolytics. The author discusses symptoms of psychological morbidity and suggests ways to combat it.