Features of somatopsychic manifestations in oncology at different stages of anti-cancer therapy (review article)

Abstract

Summary. People have got a lot of questions about the relationships between mind and body in oncology for many years. Modern researchers point out to the important role of mind in the pathogenesis of cancer, but there are not enough researches in the oncopsychology in Ukraine. It is impossible to organize the support of cancer patients without studying the features of somatopsychic manifestations at different stages of cancer and stages of treatment. The purpose of this work was to analize the features of somatopsychic manifestations in cancer patients. Theoretical analysis and generalization of data from the scientific literature on the problem of somatopsychic manifestations in cancer patients were used as materials and methods. As a result, the patient undergoes stages of medical care, in the process of anti-cancer treatment, which are characterized by the features of the mind experience of stress factors and specific psychosomatic reactions. Cancer patients have an increased level of anxiety, phobic symptoms, sleep disorders, increased indicators of distress in the outpatient phase. Anxiety-depressive and asthenic syndromes are prevailed. The frequency of obsessive-phobic and apathetic disorders increases at the stage of hospital treatment. The intensity of anxiety and fear increases before surgery. Higher mental functions are impaired during radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The signs of astheno-hypochondriac disorder appears at the stage of hospital discharge. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and fear of cancer progression are the most common problems in remission. The phobic symptoms associated with fear of death appears during the stay in the hospice. Conclusions. The analysis of native and foreign publications allows us to conclude that the causes of somatopsychic disorders in cancer patients are: mental reaction to stress (news about an oncological disease, surgery), the effect of the tumor process on the patient's mind and the effect cancer therapy. Each stage of complex treatment is characterized by special psychosomatoform reactions of a cancer patient. In most cases, severe neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders develop, mainly in the form of a depressive syndrome of different variants and severity (anxious-depressive; asthenic-depressive; anxious-phobic), often hypochondriacal (carcinophobia), asthenic reactions.