Adult Psycho-oncology
Psycho-social care of patients with cancer is an integral part of modern oncology. Psychological care includes emotional support and care at the point of diagnosis, during cancer treatment, and also after treatment is completed. There is the occasional need for comprehensive psychiatric assessment and medications to help with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Family members may also need help. Our team has worked over the past decade on various aspects of psycho-oncology.
Patients with breast cancer may need psychological and psychiatric help and we discuss teh various nuances of this in our paper published in 2023: Mukherjee, A., Samanta,B., Sharma, V. et al (2023) When Do Patients with Breast Cancer Seek Help from Psycho-oncology Services? A 3-Year Retrospective Study from India Indian Journal of Paediatric and Medical Oncology 2024; 45(03): 210-218
Head Neck cancers are one of the commonest cancers in Indian subcontinent and we discuss the common comorbidities of this group of patients. Mukherjee A, Bhowmick C, Chattopadhyay S, Kathar MA, Bhattacharyya M, Nasreen S, Jain P, Arun P, Datta SS (2022) Preoperative risk factors associated with peri-operative psychiatric diagnosis in oral cancer patients ecancer 16 1401. DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2022.1401
Women with ovarian cancer often present quite late at diagnosis globally. We explored adult attachment patterns and social factors associated with delay in presentation to oncologist for women with ovarian cancer. Datta, S.S., Fraser, L., Burnell, M., Nasreen, S., Ghosh, M., Ojha, A., Saha, T., Mukhopadhyay, A., Lanceley, A., Menon,U. (2022) Association of adult attachment with delays in accessing specialist care in women with ovarian cancer. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, DOI: 10.1080/07347332.2022.2025510
Cancer journeys can be stressful for many patients and we explored access and disruptions to cancer care in India in the following paper: Datta S.S., Ghose S., Ghosh M., Jain A., Mandal S., Chakraborty S., Caduff C. (2022) Journeys: understanding access, affordability and disruptions to cancer care in India ecancer 16 1342 DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2022.1342
Pediatric Psycho-oncology
It can be an immensely stressful experience for a parent going through the experience cancer treatment of his or her child. Clinicians need sensitivity to manege children and young people with cancer and their parents.
Learning about pediatric oncology requires a framework for developing countries and we discussed this in our paper here: Datta SS, Ojha A, Saha T et al (2019) What do you need to learn in paediatric psycho-oncology? Ecancermedicalscience 13: 916. DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2019.916
A book chapter on Paediatric Psycho-oncology in the IACAPAP textbook on child and adolescent mental health may come handy for learners to get an overview: Datta SS, Cardona L, Mahanta P, Younus S, Lax-Pericall MT. Pediatric psycho-oncology: Supporting children with cancer. In Rey JM, Martin A (eds), JM Rey’s IACAPAP e-Textbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Geneva: International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions 2019.
The information needs of children, young people, and parents of children undergoing cancer treatment include were explored by one of our PhD students: Chaudhuri T, Nandakumar D, Datta SS, Husain Z, Sukumaran R, Yadav IS, Krishnan S, Panda S (2022) Information-sharing experiences of professionals looking after children with cancer: a qualitative exploration from a specialist paediatric oncology unit in India ecancer 16 1399. DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2022.1399
Even after treatment is completed some children may not achieve their optimal outcome and this was commented upon by us in an editorial: SS Datta, A Mukherjee (2021) “My cancer is cured, but I do not feel normal”: A commentary on neuropsychological outcomes of pediatric acute lymphocytic leukemia in India. Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 4 (1), 11. DOI: 10.4103/crst.crst_49_21