What are some coping strategies I could use to help with my diagnosis? Coping is one of those issues that's particularly challenging that we tend to not do a very good job at dealing with in standard cancer care, especially from the standpoint of physicians and non-physician clinicians. Physicians are often doing so much of this important work at the bedside or in the clinic, assessing how patients and families are coping with the uncertainty of this diagnosis and knowing that you have a serious, potentially life-threatening illness. The most important thing is to talk about it and acknowledge that there is uncertainty, that it is difficult, and to make space for having those conversations in the context of interactions with the cancer care team. When we have studied the effect of early integrated palliative care on improving outcomes, part of what we have learned is that actually helping patients with coping is part of the magic, the sort of special sauce by which palliative care specialists improve the patient and family caregiver experience. So helping patients to have more positive coping frameworks and styles seems to be particularly important. For example, if a person is just avoiding talking about it, that kind of avoidant coping is associated with worse well-being and worse outcomes overall, whereas more positive coping styles like reframing can be particularly helpful at helping patients feel better actually when they're dealing with this uncertainty and this serious diagnosis. So having a palliative care specialist who can explore coping issues and uncertainties is part of what can really help with these problems and issues.
HealthTree • June 29, 2023