The burden of psychosocial morbidity related to cancer: patient and family issues

Abstract

With cancer incidence increasing over time, attention to the burden of related psychiatric and psychosocial consequences of the disease and treatment is a major topic for both cancer patients and their caregivers. Among cancer patients, psychiatric (e.g. adjustment, anxiety, depressive disorders) and neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g. cognitive disorders secondary to treatment, delirium) have been shown to affect an average of 30–35% patients, with differences according to stage and type of cancer. Also other psychosocial syndromes (e.g. demoralization, health anxiety, irritable mood) not taken into account in usual nosological systems should be considered for their impact on the patient’s quality-of-life. Also, it has been repeatedly reported that psychological distress reverberates substantially throughout the nuclear family, and that a family approach is necessary in cancer care, with the caregiver–patient dyad as a unit to be the focus and direction of assessment and intervention. In this review the most significant psychosocial disorders causing burden for cancer patients and their caregivers are examined, and the main methods of assessment for more proper referral and treatment are summarized.

Keywords:

• Psychosocial dimensions
• DSM 5
• DCPR
• psycho-oncology
• cancer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The present paper has been supported by the University of Ferrara Research Funding (FAR). The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Unitalsi Triveneta and the Italian Medical Board/Association - Section of Ferrara for their unrestricted research grant and support in the memory of Francesco Tomasi, MD, and the Associazione per Supporto Psico-Oncologico (ASPO) for their unrestricted clinical research grant for the improvement of psychosocial care in oncology.