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Twitter Chat on Cancer and Psycho-Oncology
• Live Chat
Date: July 22, 2015, 1:00 - 2:00 ET
Hashtag: #CopingCancer
When faced with a diagnosis of cancer, you may feel extreme stress, anger, sadness, or a number of other strong emotions. These temporary feelings are expected, but if these and other symptoms last longer than a couple of weeks, you should seek assistance from a health care provider or a member of your medical team. Even cancer patients who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for any specific mental disorder may be experiencing psychosocial distress .
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network defines distress as “an unpleasant experience of an emotional, psychological, social, or spiritual nature that interferes with the ability to cope with cancer treatment. It extends along a continuum, from common normal feelings of vulnerability, sadness, and fears, to problems that are disabling, such as true depression, anxiety, panic, and feeling isolated or in a spiritual crisis.”
Cancer not only affects the patient, but also caregivers. Taking care of a chronically ill patient is not easy. Caregivers often ignore or fail to recognize when stress leads to their own physical illness and mental illness.
Standards of care have been developed for the management of psychosocial distress for patients and caregivers. Please join the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for a Twitter chat to learn more about coping with cancer. Maryland Pao, M.D., Clinical Director and Deputy Scientific Director at NIMH, Julia Rowland, Ph.D., Director of NCI’s Office of Cancer Survivorship , as well as Lori Wiener , Ph.D., Co-Director of the Behavioral Science Core and Director of the Psychosocial Support and Research Program at NCI, and others will be on hand to discuss cancer and psycho-oncology.
Please use the hashtag #CopingCancer to follow and participate in the Twitter chat. To ask questions, you must have a Twitter account. If you prefer to simply observe the chat taking place, you may do so at website following the event.
If you have any questions, please email NIMHpress@nih.gov. See you on Twitter!