| Abstract: |
The recognition and management of distress and anxiety are playing a larger role than ever in providing quality cancer care. New ways to incorporate distress screening and the treatments of anxiety and adjustment disorders into the cancer continuum should be forthcoming. NCCN guideline recommendations should be followed by oncology practices, and psycho-oncology teams should provide expert consultative care for the myriad of comorbidity presenting disorders in cancer The most important test continues to be a thorough history, with supporting collateral information from the patient's primary caregiver, family, friends, neighbors, and/or emergency medical personnel or police. The efficacy of available treatments comes from the ability to improve communication with patients, psychoeducation, reduction of stigma, repeat assessments, and collaborations with other cancer-treating professionals. After reading this chapter, the clinician will be able to: 1. Provide background that will help him or her assimilate and contextualize distress, adjustment disorders, and formal anxiety disorders in patients with cancer. 2. Describe the presenting problems. This includes grasping the diagnostic dilemmas and therapeutic applicability between these clinical disorders to provide quality supportive care for patients with cancer and their families. 3. Outline key investigations for making a diagnosis. The clinician should be able to describe the most useful investigations for distinguishing between differential diagnoses. 4. Describe clinical management options. The clinician should be able to appreciate the management decisions and available clinical options. 5. Clarify professional issues in managing distress and anxiety disorders in the cancer setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved) |
