Everyone copes with their cancer diagnosis and treatment differently.
Your cancer diagnosis might come as a shock. You may feel scared, sad, annoyed or you may be worried. This is completely normal.
These feelings may last a short time or get easier to deal with as time goes on.
Give yourself time to process or come to terms with what has happened and what it means for you. Do not be hard on yourself.
These feelings may get stronger:
- when you do not know what to expect
- if you have side effects from treatment
- if there is a possibility your cancer might return
Things you can do to help you cope
You could:
- talk to your specialist nurse
- keep in contact with your GP who can help and advise you
- ask your healthcare team or GP about other supports or support services
- find out what supports you can get from your local community cancer support centre
- find out more about the type of cancer you have
- talk to your friends and family about how you feel
- avoid trying to take on too much
- make time for yourself
When to ask for psychological help
It may help to talk to a trained psychologist, psychotherapist or counsellor.
They can help if you:
- have low mood with loss of interest that does not go away
- feel isolated or lonely
- are anxious or worry that your cancer will come back - this is common and there are lots of supports
- feel strong emotions often - such as anger, frustration, guilt, grief and uncertainty
- are worried about your body image
- are worried about loss of intimacy
How to get psychological help
If you are still in treatment tell your specialist nurse how you are feeling. They can arrange for you to talk to a trained psychologist, psychotherapist or counsellor.
Ask them to refer you to the psycho-oncology team. Someone from that team will contact you to make an appointment.
You can also:
- ask your GP about psychological supports
- ask your community cancer support centre about psychological supports
- contact an organisation that provides mental health supports and services