Posted: January 31st, 2023

Cancer Diagnosis: How to cope with it Introduction Cancer Diagnosis is a Problem in the US Cancer

Cancer Diagnosis: How to cope with it Introduction Cancer Diagnosis is a Problem in the US Cancer is one of the main health challenges that face the American society in both the past and the modern era.
Essentially, the American authority estimated deaths attributable to cancer at around 570,000 in the United States of America as at 2010. Indeed, despite the stepped up mechanism of mitigating the prevalence of cancer, carcinogenic factors continue to increase within the United States.
In particular, the American Cancer Society had estimated that about 170,000 cancer fatalities arise from smoking habits, as well as excessive drinking factors that are perceived to be completely avoidable. On the other hand, another share of about 170, 000 cancer fatalities arose from obesity, mal-nutrition and lack of physical exercises.
Furthermore, similar statistics from the American cancer society indicate that about one million cancer cases will be subjected to diagnosis caused by preventable factors, particularly for skin cancer. However, it is saddening that about 60% of cancer fatalities in America arise from preventable factors such as smoking, lack of physical exercises and exposure to direct sunlight.
On account of the latter, cancer diagnosis is, therefore, a major health problem in the United States of America (Aronowitz, 2013). According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), cancer diagnosis in the US had been on the rise for a long period of time since the problem has been accelerated by various environmental and natural factors particularly due to the changing climatic conditions. However, in the recent past, the cancer fatalities have decreased relatively due to the engagement of solid measures aimed at mitigating the contraction and subsequent cancer ailment in the society. One of the most prevalent measures that have been taken is extensive education on the exposure to carcinogenic factors and human habits that promote the spread of cancer. Consequently, these efforts have been critical to the reduction of the cancer incidences in the American border (American Cancer Society, 2013).
Why Cancer is a Problem Initially, cancer has been a major problem in the US. As indicated earlier, the disease has been responsible for a huge number of fatalities within the context of American populations.
Consequently, it is one among the few most dangerous diseases by virtue of claiming lives in the US second from heart diseases. Essentially, African Americans have been the most affected population in the American society with cancer.
As a matter of facts, African Americans have been perceived to have the highest recorded death rates, as well as low survival in the event of cancer infections. Essentially, the most prevalent cancer type in the US is breasts cancer attributable to wide acclaimed deaths arising in US.
In particular, the American Cancer Society estimates that breast cancer will comprise about 235,000 novel cases in the US by end of 2014 projection. Similarly, second in prevalence is the prostate cancer followed by lung cancer.
Additionally, colorectal cancer, which is a combination of both colon and rectal cancer, also tops up the list of most infectious cancer diseases in the US and perhaps one of the killer diseases within the context of the US.
For instance, the American Cancer Society estimates colorectal cancer to approximately 136,830 incidences as of 2014 diseases prevalence rates. This is a major challenge to the health sector in the US particularly accelerates by poor lifestyle and eating habits as well uncontrolled exposure to carcinogenic substances in the society (Piehl, 2007).
The diagnosis of Cancer in the US has declined significantly, but the problem remains significant in America and the world in general. The reduction can be attributed to extensive campaigns and interventions geared towards reducing cancer fatalities worldwide.
Literature Review How Adults grief with Cancer Diagnosis; During the preliminary stage of the cancer diagnosis, majority of people often need some time to adjust to their current experiences and the fact that they have cancer.
Indeed, people need ample time to think of their position in the society and the most significant aspects of their individual lives besides seeking compassion from their friends. However, this period is an emotionally hard time for many people.
For instance, the feeling of disbelief, fear and protracted anger all characterizes their everyday lives. Initially, these feelings often consume a lot of mental energy of the victims which further complicates their intake and understanding of medical information that may be provided by the healthcare teams.
Consequently, one may need some time to understand and absorb their respective diagnosis and subsequent treatment alternatives and their physical and emotional impacts to them and their loved ones (Aronowitz, 2013). Coping with cancer often takes the root of the mode of coping taking during other life situations that are highly demanding emotionally.
In this regard, every individual copes differently due to difference in personality. However, given time and practice, majority of people often find their way to return to normalcy with regard to their life situations including their social relationships.
In dealing with the aftermath of cancer diagnosis and the resultant grief, one may adopt some of the strategic means of coping through the five distinct stages identified by DR Elisabeth Kobler as analyzed among which includes bargain and acceptance, as elaborated later in this section.
However, in particular, the patient should get accustomed to learning more on the particular cancer problem and its subsequent treatments. In this regard, some people gain a sense of control with respect to their experiences.
Importantly, the Health care team also assists individuals in understanding their problems and therefore making their ability to cope quite easy (Aronowitz, 2013). Similarly, people should express their feelings to their friends and families.
For instance, expressing feelings such as fear, and anger may be often perceived as a weakness. However, this may act as a source of individual-reconciliation. Indeed, hiding such feelings may often complicate it in dealing with it positively.
Expressing oneself does not only take the form of talking to friends. On the contrary, one may also express their feelings through a personal journal or music and drawings. Furthermore, the adults grieving with cancer should also take care of themselves by engaging in activities that one enjoys daily.
For instance, one may prepare their most favorite meals or take time with a trusted friend every day. Physical exercises may also be critical to coping with grief for cancer patients if and only if the medical professional allows such.
Additionally, one may also try to reach out on others. This gives an individual the sense of unity and enhances the capacity of a patient to handle cancer in unison with friends or family.
Last but not least, an individual from cancer diagnosis should also engage in work with a view to retaining a positive attitude. Although a positive attitude does not provide a guarantee for beating cancer, engaging positive could be an effective means of improving individuals’ quality of lives.
This is the case since majority of people living with cancer go through various situations of both grief and sadness (Kufe & American Cancer Society et al., 2006). Cancer is denoted as the second most deadly diseases in US.
According to the current trends, the disease is to be the top deadly disease in the United States within the coming decade. There are prevalent variances however with respect to cancer contraction and sexes while different races and geographical locations have also experienced the problem differently.
In the year, 2001, the number of age-adjusted death rates accruing from cancer infections exceeded the deaths arising from heart ailments particularly in four distinct states namely: Montana, Oregon, Alaska and Minnesota.
Indeed, it is indicated that for every four deaths in US, one arises from cancer disease. Between 1996 and 2000, the deaths in America arising from cancer rose to about 2.5 million people. As a matter of facts, the population of America is skewed to the top.
This implies that the population is aging with high life expectancy. Consequently, despite the active insurgence by virtue of cancer detection and subsequent treatment, cancer diagnosis may double within the next five decades.
Similarly, the fact that population of the US is aging also impacts negatively on the survival rates of the cancer patients within the United States of America (Kufe & American Cancer Society et al., 2006).
Essentially, there are four leading cancer infections in the US namely: breast, colorectal, lungs and prostate cancer which causes the highest death toll in US. On account of the 2004, about 25% of cancer fatalities rose from women while about 32% deaths accounted for men patients suffering from lung cancer. Indeed, multiple studies indicates that the aggregate cancer fatalities are skewed to the male population while at the same time black American have been accounting for the highest contraction of the disease. Inequality in access to screening and treatment of cancer, lifestyle challenges, tumor biology and socioeconomic factors have been some of the major causes of variations in cancer mortality across the United States (Sutton, 2006).
In developing mechanism to address cancer fatalities, cancer prevalence data regarding specific ethnic population at both state and national levels are very important particular for control and preventative programs. Indeed, such data provides a framework for development of scenarios or regions where screening efforts needs to be revamped besides increasing access to quality health care facilities. Essentially, the interventions through improved access to healthcare and quality services further constrain the contraction of the disease besides creating a formidable mechanism for addressing cancer incidences for cancer patients across the country (Green, 2012).
However, cancer diagnosis in the US every year is highly speculative and thus poses a significant psychological problem to both individuals and the health departments in the country. Essentially, the number of cancer diagnosis in the US per year remains unknown since some states have incomplete registration of cancer incidences.
Besides, in the past decades, cancer mortality and incidences also lacked pronouncedly. This made planning in control and prevention of the disease to be relatively difficult. Besides, this also meant that the cancer burden was seemingly high but unknown in real sense.
The unavailability of actual data on cancer prevalence over the past years makes it hard to lay a significant approach to mitigating cancer effects in the society. As a matter of fact, there is extensive mechanism in planning to reduce cancer in the US but all has been involved critically on estimates in combination with the current records (Mukherjee, 2010).
According to the global cancer prevalence report by World Health Organization, Cancer is a major health concern in the world. Consequently, both WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) combines to promote the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) in their fight to minimize the world cancer burden. These efforts are replicated worldwide amidst several strains. According to the current statistics by IARC, about 8.2 million deaths were recorded as of the 2012 cancer fatalities. Similarly, 60% of the new cases of cancer infections are reportedly occurring in Africa, Central and South America as well as Asia. Other accounts indicate that most of the cancer incidences that has been recorded in the past arose from preventable factors accounting for approximately 30% of all cancer incidences globally (Naff, 2008).
Incidents of Cancer As indicated earlier, cancer incidences among the women were recorded low over time. As a matter of facts, smoking has been a major contributor to lung cancer as reported by the American cancer society.
However, recent statistics indicates that women populations have also engaged in widespread smoking. Consequently, the number of women living with cancer in US have also increased considerably. Among the key incidences includes: Elizabeth Edwards, the wife to Senator John Edward; Patricia Nixon who was the wife to President Nixon.
Furthermore, Mother and siblings to President Jimmy Carter also had encounter with cancer diagnosis. Other incidence include Happy Rockefeller, the wife to vice president Nelson Rockefeller. In particular, Misses Nixon stood as an outstanding character through her period of Cancer ailment.
Essentially, she left her home to her earlier home town, Artesia where she engaged herself in sharing her experiences with others. Initially, Patricia got into a school named after her and loved living in the school environment exchanging ideas with the residents.
Specifically, she expressed her gratitude over the fact that the school had been named after her given that she was first lady to the first president of the United States (Kufe & American Cancer Society et al., 2006).
Indeed, she acknowledged that she really appreciated the fact that she was alive despite the illness and the fact that the school carried her name though she was alive contrary to the norms that those who have died are the common associated with name tags for schools unlike her case.
This enhanced her ability to grief with cancer, ‘I always thought that only those who have gone had schools named after them. I am happy to tell you that I’m not gone—I mean, not really gone.’ These remarks had been critical to her survival, being a strong character and accepting the fate that she was in was critical to her life with cancer.
Indeed, at this particular time, Patricia was publicly seen in California once during a period of five and a half years. The husband to Patricia, former president Nixon also provided moral support to the wife and migrated to new locations such as Manhattan, New York City and latter in Saddle River, in New Jersey, particularly after suffering stroke at La Casa Pacifica in 1976.
With this conditions coupled with critical medication, Patricia could live longer till her death on 22nd June, 1993 (Kufe & American Cancer Society, 2006). Mortality data regarding cancer incidences of the US indicates that between 2000 and 2009 from the records of National Center for Health Statistics, the level of cancer prevalence have declined considerably as appertains to most cancer sites in US.
However, despite this reduction, there has been a relative rise in both male and females for the skin Melanoma and liver cancers as well as thyroid. According to the reports from SEER 13 Cancer registries, the cancer incident rates however declined marginally between 2005 and 2009 in males with a margin of 0.6% per annum while the female cancer incidences remained relatively stable over time.
Similarly, in major cancer sites in America, incidence rates are decreasing significantly over time except for female breast cancer whose incident rates remained stable during the period between 2005 and 2009 following a drop of 2% between 1999 and 2005 (Carvalho & Stewart, 2009).
On the other hand, the incidences of lung cancer also began to decrease in 1990s which set pace for the decline in their male counterparts decline about a decade afterwards. Essentially, the pattern denoted by incidences of lung cancers in male and females indicates historical disparities between men and women with regard to tobacco use and cigarette smoking. However, although men were perceived to have the highest rates of cigarette smoking in 1990s, women replaced them two decades later. As a result, the incidences of lung cancer produced by cigarette smoking have been extended widely to women than their men counterparts (Specter & Scaturro, 2008).
Moreover, there has been a decline in colorectal cancer incidences in the US which has been perceived to be a product of extensive screening which has enabled early detection and subsequent amputation of precancerous polyps. According to Jointpoint analysis, the incident rates of prostate cancer reduced steadily with a margin of approximately, 1.9% per annum between 2000 and 2009. However, although there had been this decline, the fluctuations per year have been quite eminent. This is a likely reflection of the varying prevalence of prostate-specific antigens diagnosis with a view to detecting prostate cancer. These variances could be portrayed clearly by the variation in SEER 13 regions via delay-adjusted of the prostate cancer incidence rate which rose from 154/100,000 to 164/ 100,000 between 2000 and 2006 and decline from 168/100,000 to 153/100,000 between 2007 and 2008 (Specter & Scaturro, 2008).
Interventions Essentially, the United States Government has been on the forefront in mitigating the causes and remedies for cancer. Similarly, the National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute (NCI), as well as the department of Health and Human services, has been a key national instrument for cancer research besides coordinating the National Cancer Program. NCI is essentially a federal agency through which the state channels its funds for research and development of the physical framework for cancer prevention and treatment. NCI’s budget was flat at about $4.9 Billion per annum over 6 years ago. On the other hand, there have been other federal agencies responsible for stepping up the force towards instigating cancer free society amidst various strains. Similarly, Voluntary organizations and industries spend a substantial amount of funds in cancer-related researches which later forwards outcomes towards the government health institutes for implementation (Williams & Falkson, 2006).
According to the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSSPC) certain types of screening such as PSA-based screening involved high risks that appertain to over diagnosis among men without clinical symptoms forever. Consequently, over diagnosis of cancer, coupled with overtreatment together would lead to entrenched negative psychological impact on men that would restrain the patients’ access to healthcare in future and acts as products of screening. Indeed, such incidences have been reportedly portrayed as more disastrous than incidences of breast, colorectal and cervical cancers incidences. Therefore, government and private entities have moderated screening particularly for the prostate cancer in order to mitigate the perceptive negativity of prostate cancer screening (Green, 2012).
Stages of Grief: How to grief cancer diagnosis Following a diagnose of cancer, present or expected losses includes controls as appertains to daily living and life in general all sums up to fear or grieve.
According to a grief expert David Kessler, there are five major stages of grieve involved prior to coping with the psychological impact of the diagnoses. These stages include: Bargain; Denial; Anger; Despair and, finally, self-Acceptance.
This forms the critical framework upon which the individual appreciates living alongside the loss. The order may however change from one person to another while some people may never experience all the stages.
Essentially, denial is essential in helping an individual in coping with the news that is relatively hard to handle. Mayo clinic asserts that a short-term denial is a pivotal coping mechanism while prolonged denial may deter the coping mechanism.
On the other hand, anger portrays acceptance but simultaneously shows discomfort with the cancer diagnosis. Anger helps an individual express their feelings towards family, health officials and other people who could provide essential coping mechanism for the victim (Green, 2012).
According to Kessler, bargaining is an option to preventing future loss for diagnosed patients with cancer. In bargaining, one may even engage supernatural forces in promising to live a life free from certain behaviors that might have been critical to contraction of cancer. This helps the patient cope with the psychological distress from cancer diagnosis. Confronting cancer and related losses contributes to psychological distress. However, this is essential in coping with the cancer diagnosis since, as the American Cancer Society Proposes, one ought to visit a professional counselor a step that enables one to cope with the prolonged distress. Finally, the patient’s acceptance of the situation helps them cope with it. Indeed, acceptance does not imply letting go the grief. Instead, it implies an acceptance that cancer is indeed part and parcel of oneself and restrains from attempts to regain from losses which have a long-term predetermined failure (Green, 2012).
Grief is particularly not an illness but a period of emotional distress perpetuated by circumstances. Consequently, the mode of overcoming the grief particularly takes the perspective of behavior changes which can only be worked out through engaging in different behaviors with the help of professionals or friends.
In this regard, grief may not be necessarily fixed through medical means but rather psychologically confronted by information sharing. Essentially, grief does not arise from artificial infliction. On the contraction, it comes about as a result of general expression of loss by individual through a natural instinct with regard to loss.
The loss mainly entails the disappearance of healthy and cancer-free life to a situation of living with cancer. Due to divergence in personalities, different people respond differently to the loss. However, the coping mechanism may trace the five distinct stages as described in the Kobler’s analysis of grief.
The methods of coping with cancer diagnosis therefore involve creativity and responsiveness to scenes of anger and emotional responses. In this regard, grief does not offer guarantee of time to occur but stimulated by stimuli of loss (Green, 2012).
What causes Cancer There are different types of cancerous diseases which imply that each type has its own cause. However, most of the researches on cancer show that about 90% of the carcinogen are related primarily to the environmental factors while about 10% is attributed to genetics.
In some occasions, cancer may result from individual’s constitutional attitude. Cancer starts from one single faulty or damaged cell as a result of damaged genes. Genes perform a crucial task of passing on instructions to the body cells.
The faulty cells then form lumps which accumulates into tumor that impairs the body functioning as well as produce hormones known to alter the normal functioning of the body. Whereas, the masses of tissues caused by accumulation of faulty cells in blood streams, leukemia, interferes with normal functioning of the blood cells.
Some of the various causes of cancerous disease are notably: Most forms of cancer can be identified as one grows older, thus, age is a factor. Essentially, this is due to the time duration it takes for damaged cells to divide and multiply during one’s lifetime.
At an older age, there happen to be so many genetic mistakes which develops into cancerous cells. Furthermore, the ability of the body to repair damaged cells and its resistance to deformed cells becomes less.
Hence, one ends up more exposed to cancerous disease during old age. At the preliminaries, lifestyle as well as diet may also lead to cancer. For instance, consumption of too much fatty food, drinking a lot of alcohol, smoking and having too much red meat in ones’ diet; puts one at a risk of developing cancer.
Obesity together with lack of exercise and stress may also have the same effect. Most common type of cancer here is lung cancer, caused by tobacco smoking. The tobacco chemicals destroy the lung cells thereafter leading to cancer.
Diets that are high in processed food and salt are also linked to cancer. Radiation can also cause cancer. Too much exposure to ultra violet radiation as well as sunburn, X-ray, radon gas and other harmful radiations may increase the risk of cancer.
These rays hits cell’s molecules randomly and inactivate parts of the chromosome which removes sections of the DNA. This causes damage to the cell leaving it partly functioning ending up into uncontrolled division and eventually into cancer.
Also people with poor immune system like those with HIV/AIDS are likely to suffer from cancer as their bodies are less fit to combat problems that lead to cancer. Viruses and bacteria weakens the immune system making the body vulnerable to cancer development.
For instance, one infected with hepatitis C or B virus commonly lead to cancer of the liver. Moreover, some bacterium lead to stomach cancer like the Helicobacter pylori. Cancer may also result from an inherent gene which is damaged or deformed.
With time, a person with inherited damaged gene develops cancer as a result of the division of the damaged cell overtime. Some other carcinogen like the genetic makeup is also in focus.
For instance, one may be born with genetic mutations that may develop into cancer during one’s lifetime for example, colon cancer. Despite the various causes of cancer, it is reported that only a good combination of factors which can cause cancer.
In most occasions, a single carcinogen may not cause the disease due to the ability of the immune system to destroy many forms of abnormal cells before their multiplication.
Different cultures have their own perceptions about some diseases, most importantly, cancer. In some communities, cancer is regarded a deadly disease. For instance, the Russian culture believes that cancer is not treatable at all.
When people receive cancer diagnosis, they know quite well that they are going to die as the disease is fetal. This hinders people from testing themselves for cancer. Such tests helps in better understanding of risks and may help to prevent the disease at its preliminary stage.
Most cultures view the subject about cancer with fear while others keep away from it. They prefer living not to bother themselves of the disease since they tend to avoid cases of stigma.
Some cultures recommend that those with genetic disorders which are cancer related are not supposed to give birth, rather subjected to child adoption. Hence, cancer being a feared and a deadly disease is viewed differently by different cultures.
Some cultures, particularly from the African region, believed that the disease was a sign of a curse. Those with cancer were regarded as cursed people who must have been involved in an evil undertaking.
This could only be explained by its lack of a cure. Such people were labelled outcasts and were literally chased from their homestead into wild forests. Why I chose this topic; my Personal Experience Cancer is a disease that people prefer not to talk about.
I picked on it because this is a disease I live with. I have cancer in my family. My relatives are living with cancer. I remember an incident when the doctors were trying hard enough to help my grandmother who had lung cancer but they couldn’t make it.
That’s why I developed an interest in this topic and lucky enough, I got an opportunity to do a study on the same. How Psychotherapists should work with People that have Cancer diagnosis to help them grief.
Psychotherapists are very vital in our societies since they are involved in treating not just the cancer but the whole patient. They recommend the best measures that should be taken by the cancer patients to enable them live with the disease for a longer time period.
With experience, they explore the family chain to identify and assist those who may be victims. In helping people with cancer grief their condition, psychotherapists first subjects the cancer patient toward a mental health screening which assists in identifying critical areas of concern.
This also provides an avenue for them to familiarize themselves with the patient as well as the patient’s family. The family may be involved in the grieving process depending on the willingness of the patient.
Though, cancer patients should be encouraged to share with their family members about their condition so as to allow a room for any assistance that the patients may need. Thereafter, psychotherapist will have to arrange for a convenient time of conversation with the patient.
The conversation should make the patient not feel that it is the end of the road. The cancer patient should understand that many people have been faced by the same problem and they have managed it in life.
This helps in relieving the victim from any form of stigma, as cancer patients can live long enough only by taking the relevant medication. The patient should also be given time to share his or her experiences and at the same time, what he or she feel about the disease.
From patient’s point of view, the psychotherapist will gain ground on where to start from, in helping the patient. The patient should be encouraged to live a healthy life and proceed with normal routine as usual.
Regular visits to the patient should also be made by the specialist. On the social side, family members of the patient and his or her workmates if possible should understand the circumstance of the patient any avoid any cases of discrimination.
On the same wavelength, in occasions where the patient may be economically unstable or incapable of getting the required medication, the psychotherapist have a duty of seeking an avenue in assisting the patient through outsourcing for funds needed.
How my Experience will influence my Work My experience with cancer has made me stronger in handling issues to do with it. It has made me bold enough to resolve matters to do with the disease with an aim in helping the patient to cope. Similarly, I will be able to give appropriate encouragement as well as hope to those with the disease. The fact is, at a later stage of cancer development, there is minimal mechanism of getting rid of it permanently. Thus, the patients need adequate support and with my experience,
Recommendations From the outcomes of the latter analysis, cancer has been a major health problem across the world. Consequently, all countries worldwide should join hands in fighting the disease via extensive international campaigns.
Similarly, all countries should seek to reduce the discharge of carcinogenic factors into the environment, with a view to cutting down human causative agents. Furthermore, since most of the cancer incidences particularly in the US are preventable people should enhance measures that would ensure low if any cancer incidences arise from preventable factors.
For instance, smoking should be restrained while subsequent exposure to harmful Uv-rays should be controlled and restrained to unavoidable circumstances only. Furthermore, scientific findings from research should also be incorporated into the interventions towards curbing the spread of Cancer across the globe.
These findings should also be published in order to ease access both public and private entities for a collective bargain on remedial measures. Summary Cancer has been a major problem in the US and perhaps the second top killer disease in US.
Similarly, significant measures have been put in place to reduce the spread of cancer in the US and the globe at large. However, there has been a significant drop in cancer incidences in the US owing to the extensive interventions by both the civil society and the government.
For instance, there have been significant annual fluctuations in cancer incidences in the US due to varying intensity of carcinogenic factors. Furthermore, cancer incidences have also been high on African American in particular, while the smoking female population has also skewed towards the females increasing their susceptibility to lung cancer.
Consolidated mechanisms for reduction of cancer have been stepped up worldwide with a view to reducing Cancer infections in the future besides promoting coping mechanisms for cancer patients.

Check Price Discount

Study Notes & Homework Samples: BCJ100 (2) Define due process, as required by the Bill of Rights »A study of the role of human rights in the fight against terrorism