When to get psychological assistance

All that talk about PTSD last week had me thinking … when does one cross the line from being down to being depressed and needing professional help? Well, I received some answers to that question from Dr. Rausch at Massachusetts General Hospital:

“It may be hard to know exactly when some down mood becomes depression or when some anxiety becomes an anxiety disorder, but the essential piece is the pervasiveness of the symptoms (not up and down, but down and more down) continueing for 2 weeks or more.”

So I urge you, if you notice that you are feeling pervasive symptoms of depression or anxiety after a diagnoses, during your treatment or living as a survivor post-treatment please get help. You deserve the mental assistance, that’s for sure.

Furthermore, even if you are not suffering from PTSD, or any mood or anxiety disorder, getting psychiatric assistance might help you to:

• Explain your illness to family members (spouses, children, etc.)
• Develop strategies to get through your treatment
• Cope with the side effects of treatment (weight gain, loss of libido, hair loss)
• Work through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance
• Adapt to a “new normal” life as a cancer survivor
• Develop a new self image after surgery and/or reconstruction

Have any of you received psychiatric treatment ‘post-diagnosis’? What did it help you to deal with? What advice do you have for others?