Psychological and Social Support Crucial for Cancer Patients

Cancer is such a devastating disease that it takes an intense toll not just on the physical well being of the patient, but the emotional and social aspect as well. This may lead to other health problems during and after treatment or even during recovery from cancer. Cancer is an aggressive disease and the treatment is also aggressive. Radiation and chemotherapy treatments are physically exhausting and also severely affect the mental state of the patient.

If the treatment is administered without taking into consideration the emotional impact or even the physical repercussions, the patient's suffering will unduly increase and their resolve and motivation to follow through with the treatment will also get affected. Sometimes the focus seems to be just on eliminating the tumors, but now reports from reputed medical institutes propose that cancer therapies have to be administered using new guidelines for oncology care.

The new standards proposed intend to accomplish three goals: identifying if patients are distressed and unhealthy otherwise, helping patients treat these secondary problems, and periodically evaluate the patient care standard and be flexible enough to accommodate new changes. This could lead to a better way of compassionately administering cancer treatment, not just with the specific intent to kill cancer cells alone turning a blind eye to all else.

It is recognized that existing cancer treatments have some very strong side effects. And if the adverse effects of the therapy itself weaken the gains of treatment, the patient finally ends up suffering, not just via the disease, but also during the course of treatment and during the recovery stages even after the treatment stops. Though some resources already exist to help patients through the excruciating and exhausting phase of treatment, oncology care providers may not give enough importance to identifying the individual needs of patients and helping them utilize these resources.

Some of the common needs for patients include access to information about cancer and treatment for depression and other mental conditions that are but natural side effects of going through such a devastating experience as cancer.

During treatment patients may also need help performing daily activities. They also need to be provided with easy access to transportation, medication and other supplies that they can either not afford or do not have access to.
It is not just cancer, but other serious debilitating diseases also cause tremendous strain on all aspects of an individual's life. New standards in patient care need to address this specific area to improve the quality of care provided to patients.