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 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.
Cancer journeys and disruptions to care
Cancer journeys are never easy and, in a country like India, patients and their families literally travel long distances fraught with many difficulties. We studied access, affordability and disruptions to cancer care in our collaborative research project with Kings College London. This publication can be accessed here.
Pediatric Psycho-oncology
While treating children with cancer, psychological care may be missed while the paediatric oncology teams are busy treating the biological disease. A broad overview of emotional issues in children with cancer was published in an editorial published by us in 2023.
If you want to learn about paediatric psycho-oncology in further detail you can access the introductory book chapter on Paediatric Psycho-oncology in the IACAPAP textbook on child and adolescent mental health here.
Information needs of children with cancer and their parents were explored by one of the PhD scholars and her paper can be found here.
Learning about paediatric oncology requires a framework for developing countries and we discussed this in our paper here.
Psychological issues and stigma faced by women with breast cancer
Many patients with cancer feel stigmatised and we reported on the stigma felt by women with breast cancer in India. A significant proportion of patients with breast cancer have emotional needs and access mental health care. We discuss the common issues and potential solutions in our paper published in 2023 (click here to access).
Head and Neck Cancers and common psychiatric comorbidities
Head and Neck cancers are one of the most common cancers in the Indian subcontinent. Patients diagnosed with oral cancers are often plagued by a range of psychiatric comorbidities.
In a research paper, we reported the peri-operative psychiatric morbidity of more than 700 patients with head and neck cancers, and this paper can be accessed here.
Some patients with head and neck cancers are upset with the changes in their appearance. You may feel the pain felt by some of our patients from the short film created by Ms Rhea Daruvala based on a letter written by a patient to her oncologist.
Psychological factors delaying presentation to oncologists in women with ovarian cancer
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.
To listen to the talk presenting this study, click on the picture or here.
Photographic exhibition regarding cancer journeys
Alongside this outward journey characterised by treatment related migration from one part of the country to another, there is also an inwards psychological journey of patients and their family members. This was captured in the art of medicine project also called ‘Journeys’. In this project, we captured photographs of patients and healthcare workers. We conducted two exhibitions of these photographs, one in Kolkata in Jan 2021 and the second one in London in Feb 2021. The photographic project has been permanently hosted on the ecancermedicalsciences website. Click here to go through the photobook. Reflections about the exhibition are recorded here.
References
- Chaudhuri, T, Nandakumar, D, Datta, SS, Husain, Z, Sukumaran, RS, Yadav, IS, Krishnan, S and Panda, S (2022) Information-Sharing Experiences of Professionals Looking after Children with Cancer: A Qualitative Exploration from a Specialist Paediatric Oncology Unit in India. Ecancermedicalscience 16 (May): 1399.
- 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.
- Datta, S.S. (2023) Children with cancer: Are we healing the body & missing the mind? Indian J of Medical Research 158(4): 327-329 DOI: 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_1870_23 (Access here)
- Datta, S. S., Fraser, L., Burnell, M., Nasreen, S., Ghosh, M., Ojha, A., … Menon, U. (2022). Association of adult attachment with delays in accessing specialist care in women with ovarian cancer. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 40(4), 491–505.
- 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
- Datta,SS, Mukherjee,A (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
- 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
- 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
- Mukherjee, A., Samanta,B., Sharma, V. et al (2024) 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 45(03): 210-218 (Access here)
- Tripathi L, Datta SS, Agrawal SK, Chatterjee S, Ahmed R. (2017) Stigma Perceived by Women Following Surgery for Breast Cancer Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol. 2017 Apr-Jun;38(2):146-152. (Access here)