Psychosocial Oncology Essay

In the article ‘Groundbreaking’ Trial Will Test Cancer-Sniffing Dogs, written by Dominique Mosbergen, Dr. Claire Guest reveals that dogs have the capability to detect cancer and possibly other diseases. Normally a gentle dog, Daisy, who Guest had been preparing to recognize infections with her sharp sense of smell, would not get into the car, and rather crashed into Guest a couple times before goading her in the chest. Daisy’s unusual demeanor provoked Guest to check the region where the dog had poked her. Tests later uncovered that she had early-stage breast cancer.

Orenstein is notably biased in her choice of words and use of loaded language. The author uses the pathos appeal which is effective because it triggers the audiences emotions, but overused it which made it ineffective. The audience may understand that Orenstein is passionate in regards to this topic because she underwent that traumatic experience, which definitely effects her perception on details surrounding breast cancer. On a analysis level, it is suggested for her to use only fewer but relevant statistics, tune down her bias, and include claims from a doctor’s point of view. This article’s inclusion of too much logos and overuse of pathos has limited the extent of this argument, therefore rendering the topic

In the book titled “THE LAST LECTURE” by Randy Rausch, the protagonist of the story is Randy Pausch and the antagonist is pancreatic cancer. One page 4 chapter 1 it states that “That week, however, I got the news: My most recent treatment hadn’t worked. I had just months to live”. In that quote, it started a conflict that was not only alarming to his wife Jai and to his three kids, Logan, Dylan, and Chloe but alarming to himself to know that his time was coming to an end, and he is approaching his deathbed. Randy and Jai decided to take their concerns to a psychotherapist, Michele Reiss, She specializes in helping families when one member is confronting a terminal illness.

This essay appeals to the reader 's emotions, especially if the reader has cancer, or has someone close to them in their life who is battling cancer. I thought the author’s attitude was appropriate when discussing her life, and she presented her claim in a unique way. She put a new view into the reader’s mind of how to cope with cancer, and how to become a new person because of your disease. She concludes the memoir stating how she is bald again, and dreams of having her long, wavy hair back, but for now she will focus on her new hair tattoo. I think this is a perfect representation of how to cope with cancer, and how to transform into a new person for the better because of

Having cancer frequently forces patients into changing their lifestyles for the better. It is proven that making positive lifestyle changes decreases the chances that cancer will recur. "Many patients and survivors worry about cancer coming back after treatment. Evidence suggests that making positive lifestyle changes during and after cancer treatment may help prevent a recurrence or second cancer" (Healthy Living After Cancer). This can show how the fear of the recurrence of cancer can drive the former cancer patient into being healthier.

In the US, cancer is the second major cause of death. Cancer is the uncontrolled division of somatic cells caused by defective cancer cells. Usually, when cells divide, they begin to form a layer. Normal cells will experience contact inhibition, where cells can cease to replicate once there is no more space for it to inhabit. However, cancer cells cannot control their division.

Assisted suicide is “suicide with help from another person (such as a doctor) to end suffering from severe physical illness” (Merriam-Webster).This is a controversial topic because it can both benefit and harm. Psychologist must “Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity” Principle E of the APA Code of Ethics states that “Psychologists respect the dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination”(APA Code of Ethics). Some patients a psychologist may work with might wish to use assisted suicide as an option to end their life. There is a dilemma between how a psychologist is ethically required to act professionally and what their patients may want or need. Psychologists have to consider other factors.

Maintaining hope is key for long-term survivors of diseases such as HIV infection and breast cancer. Healthy coping, however, differs from the common societal notion of “positive thinking.” Having the capacity to tolerate and express concerns and emotions not just the ability to put anxieties aside, and additionally, discussing these as well as uncertainties and fears, losses and sadness that usually accompany severe illness is generally

In the first section, he gives numerous examples of how normal his life was before the diagnosis. He recounts his childhood and his beginnings of how he loved to read because of his mother. He tells of when he would stay out late reading in the starlight to come home to his mother worried that he was doing drugs, but “the most intoxicating thing I’d experienced, by far, was the volume of romantic poetry she’d handed me the previous week” (27). He continues with all of his life before cancer, but when he gets the results he says “One chapter of my life seemed to have ended; perhaps the whole book was closing” (120). The rest of the book, the closing of his book as he calls it, focuses on examples of how cancer changed his

Mesothelioma treatment and sex life: an imperative connection Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects mainly to those who have been in contact with asbestos, but is not until 20 or more years that the symptoms start to appear. Patients with cancer are usually cautious in regard to sex life: they avoid the topic from their doctors and the doctors do not make questions or suggestions for the same caution. Some may think that this is due to the fact that when a person is diagnosed with cancer this person’s mind does not have room to worry about this topic, but truth be told, it is more important than it seems. Most people diagnosed with cancer tend to forget about the emotional effect that their partners have in their lives; therefore,

The word Cancer originally comes from a Greek word that means, “a growth, lump, or protuberance” (Sontag 10). Tuberculosis comes from a Latin word that means, “a morbid swelling, protuberance, projection or growth,” (Sontag 10). Both diseases were regarded as diseases that consumed the body however, tuberculosis is a disease that affected the lungs, while cancer can affect any part of the body. Although both have had similar metaphors used, tuberculosis and cancer are almost complete opposites. Tuberculosis has visible symptoms, such as coughing and fevers, while cancer symptoms are typically undetectable until it is in the later stages.

Participants noted the change in touch from their family and friends prior to diagnosis of their cancer. Some participants found comfort in the changes and some did not. Many participant’s noted a struggle between craving normalcy and familiarity from loved ones and still wanting to feel love and support. One participant reported not letting his mother touch him when he was gravely ill. Another participant noted that her family, particularly her mother and daughter, began to distance themselves from her after her diagnosis.

I was only a freshman when I began to notice my mother was taking my grandma to doctor’s appointments repeatedly. I honestly thought it was because she was elderly. But never in a million years did I think my own grandma would be diagnosed with cancer. I was only 14 when I found out the news. At that age, when I heard of the word cancer, I automatically thought of the word death.

The Biopsychosocial Model The biopsychosocial model of health care allows medical practice to be understood completely in terms of biological, psychological and social factors. The model suggests that every illness can be explained and treated by an interaction between these three factors. The model was proposed by George L. Engel, the Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester, where he challenged the previously prevailing medical model, called the biomedical model, and argued for the introduction of a biopsychosocial model. The biomedical model had viewed illness purely from a pathophysiological perspective, suggesting that every disease could be explained from a biological standpoint.

Patients must continuously adjust to the threat to their own identity: at first, when they find out the diagnosis, and later, to the treatment, to various physical symptoms and to the emotional distress. This adjustment is considered by the Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation, where the patient with cancer is considered to be actively seeking and processing the information about the disease, building his/her own cognitive and emotional representations with regard to the disease and finally selecting and applying those coping procedures that will help him/her face the threat of disease [14,15]. If the adjustment efforts that focus on the problem or on the emotion are inadequate or inappropriate, individuals will experience fear or worry, according to Leventhal’s Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation, which originally did not include worry and risk perception; these concepts were later included in the extended versions of the self-regulation framework