Maintaining mental health during cancer treatment

A cancer diagnosis can prove challenging to anyone's state of mind, often eliciting feelings of anxiety, sadness, grief and frustration. Treatment regimens may also impact patients' ability to maintain their daily routines, which may increase their risk of depression. But depression doesn't have to go hand in hand with a cancer diagnosis. There are ways to lower your risk. Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa provides these tips on how to help maintain your mental well-being during your cancer journey. Integrative therapies may prove especially beneficial in caring for the whole person - mind, body and spirit - by helping patients deal with the side effects of treatment and improve their overall quality of life.

What is integrative care?

A number of supportive therapies are available to cancer patients as part of the integrative care model. Patients may benefit from laughter therapy, pet therapy, music therapy and spiritual counseling, and they often find that one option works better than another. Cancer and mental health are deeply personal, and the experience is individual for every person.

Dr. David Wakefield, a psychologist at the Tulsa hospital, says he has seen firsthand the benefits of treating the whole person, not just the disease. "The mind, body and spirit have a reciprocal relationship, and each affects the other. What we believe in our hearts and minds affects our immune system, and our immune system is our body's defense against illness," he says. "Our healing system responds positively to an optimistic attitude and beneficial emotions like love, hope, joy and laughter, and negatively to emotions like hate, loneliness and hopelessness." Mind-body medicine helps address emotions and assists patients in developing resiliency skills.

Dealing with anxiety

Anxiety is the most frequent emotion that cancer patients face. Anxiety is future-oriented and often makes patients worry about the next test result or whether their treatment is working. On the other hand, depression usually develops over events that have happened in the past. The key, Dr. Wakefield says, is to try to avoid focusing on things you can't control. "I believe it helps to live in the present," he explains. "Live in the present moment, and you will have less anxiety and depression."

Positive distractions help. Many of us fall into psychological ditches that bring us down. We can learn ways to get out of the rut and back on the highway of life, especially with tools used in the field of mind-body medicine. "Our perspective becomes our reality," says Dr. Wakefield. "How we use our mind is up to us. We can use it as a tool to help us, or a tool to lead us down a negative path."

Facing fatigue

When patients experience fatigue during treatment, it may interfere with their routines, which may increase the risk of depression. The American Cancer Society estimates that 40 percent to 90 percent of cancer patients struggle with fatigue. Many report continued fatigue for months, even years, after completing active treatment. "There is overlap between fatigue and depression. One symptom of depression is a lack of energy," says Dr. Wakefield, adding that when he sees cancer patients, he makes sure to assess how much fatigue is caused by cancer or treatment and how much is caused by depression.

Exercise may be a powerful tool to counteract cancer-related fatigue. Dr. Wakefield suggests spending 20-30 minutes every other day on an activity you enjoy. "The goal of exercising is to get your heart rate up to 1.5 times what your resting heart rate is," he says. Other ways to help combat fatigue caused by cancer or its treatment include:

? Getting plenty of rest.

? Asking for help with daily chores when needed.

? Making sure you are properly hydrated.

? Prioritizing your day and completing tasks only when you have enough energy to do so.

? Getting a physical checkup to determine if you have other health conditions that may cause fatigue.

Learn more about how integrative care and mid-body medicine can help you maintain mental health during your cancer journey at cancercenter.com/tulsa.