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Anxiety
Although the experience of anxiety is a normal response when people learn they have cancer or in the case of recurrence or treatment failure, patients who continue to experience high levels of anxiety for weeks or months should be referred to a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, or psychiatric social worker for evaluation and possible treatment. Some patients with cancer have long-standing or chronic anxiety disorders, such as phobias and panic disorder, that can be exacerbated by the stressors of cancer illness or treatment. Claustrophobic patients may experience acute anxiety when confined in diagnostic scanning devices or radiotherapy treatment rooms.65 Patients who experience such acute anxiety or exacerbations of chronic anxiety disorders may require the use of medications such as benzodiazepines or cognitive-behavioral therapies to help them tolerate procedures.
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