| Changes in
Mood: A Primer on Depression and Cancer |
By Walter Baile, M.D.
The topic of depression
is of concern to many cancer patients and questions such as the
following often arise: How does one know when he or she is
depressed? Is there a relationship between depression and cancer?
Did depression cause my cancer? How can depression be treated? To
address these important issues, here are the basics on depression
and cancer.
How common is depression?
Depression is the most common psychiatric illness found
in the general population. It is said that as many as 8 percent of
Americans will have had a depressive illness sometime in the course
of their lifetime. In cancer patients, depression seems even more
frequent. As many as 10 to 15 percent of patients are likely to
experience depression at some point during their illness.
What is depression?
The term depression can
be confusing because it actually has several meanings. First of all,
depression is a mood or feeling. When a person looks sad and
dejected we say he is depressed. In this case, depression is a
common emotion that often occurs in response to disappointment, such
as when a person doesn't get a promotion that was anticipated.
The mood depression is also closely related to feelings of
discouragement and frustration. To an observer, a person with a
depressed mood may mope around, not feel like socializing or even
have no appetite for a few days. In this instance, depression refers
to a normal variant of mood, which is part of the ups and downs of
life. This mood disturbance may be transient or may last days or
longer. Affected individuals may respond to encouragement from
others. This is the idea behind support groups.
Having a
depressed mood is an unpleasant state, but many individuals find
ways to cope. Using the example of our person who did not get the
promotion, he or she might take positive action to feel better, such
as meeting with a supervisor to determine how performance could be
improved. Of course, there are also unhealthy ways of dealing with
the situation, such as getting intoxicated or shifting blame to
someone else. In any case, to a great extent we all have some
control over how we cope with this kind of depression that occurs in
the course of everyday life.
Depression may also be
associated with grief or loss of something valued. Grief is a common
emotion among cancer patients who must deal with many losses:
psychological losses such as security about the future; physical
losses such as those that may occur from cancer surgery or hair loss
from chemotherapy; and financial losses due to the expense of cancer
treatment. As in the case of depressed mood, feelings of grief may
be very short-lived or they may last for days or weeks.
The
term depression may also refer to a disorder called clinical
depression or depressive illness. Depressive illness is more than
just a mood or feeling sad. In fact, in diagnosing the presence of a
clinical depression, feelings of sadness do not even have to be
present. Sound strange? Well, it is. It is also a dilemma because
some people who are clinically depressed do not recognize their
problem and professionals who are in the position of treating
depression may also not recognize it. | |
