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What is psycho-oncology and how has it revolutionized the approach to cancer? Is it possible to live a happy life under the sentence of death? In a series of conversations with the psycho-oncologist Adrianna Sobol, we together disenchant the myths about cancer, educate and encourage you to learn the facts about cancer treatment.
- What exactly is psycho-oncology?
Adrianna Sobol, MA:I must emphasize that psycho-oncology is a relatively young sub-field of psychology. When I started my work in the ward a dozen or so years ago, psycho-oncology was already developing quite strongly, but it was a state in which some people wondered about the idea and legitimacy of this idea.
- What is it like now?
A.S.:Today this situation has changed a lot, mainly due to the voice of patients and patient organizations and building general awareness that psycho-oncology and psycho-oncologist in the oncology department are really needed and even indispensable in the entire therapeutic process.
- Who is the psycho-oncologist?
A.S.:A psychooncologist is usually a psychologist who has completed postgraduate studies in psycho-oncology with clinical practice, which enables him to obtain a certificate in psycho-oncology.
- What does a psycho-oncologist do? What is its role?
A.S.:The role of the psycho-oncologist is to support the patient and his family at every stage of treatment. It often happens that consultations with a psycho-oncologist begin when the patient is already in a very advanced neoplastic disease, sometimes in a terminal state, and then it is believed that only then a psycho-oncologist is needed. Based on my clinical practice, and as a board member of theOnkoCafe Foundation - Better Together,I think and even fight for contact with a psycho-oncologist as early as possible.
- So when to start therapy with a psycho-oncologist?
A.S.:The moment of suspicion of a neoplastic disease, when the patient already knows something, but not all this is the time that patients define as the most difficult moment in the entire treatment process. Therapy should be startedas early as possible.
- And why?
A.S.:It is a state of uncertainty, confusion, anxiety, fear and encountering a huge image about cancer. Unfortunately, despite numerous campaigns and activities, we Poles associate cancer with a hopeless situation - that cancer is a sentence.
- What can the state of such a patient be compared to?
A.S.:When a patient receives the first results confirming the assumption that it is a cancer disease, it causes his world to turn upside down, he does not know how to deal with it all . I compare this moment to throwing into deep water, or as if someone found themselves in a dark, misty forest, from which it is unknown how to get out and where to find the way.
- What does getting a cancer diagnosis look like?
A.S.:Receiving the diagnosis is done in stages. Typically, a patient who is concerned about the symptoms comes to the test and after some time receives the result - whether it is in writing or by telephone. I emphasize that the patient receives the result alone, which makes this information usually very dry, with no commentary - this is the biggest blow to the patient.
- What happens next?
A.S.:Later, the diagnostic path is extended, where it often happens that patients are also not adequately cared for, also emotionally. As a lecturer at the Medical University of Warsaw, I try to educate young medics in the field of communication, but this is not an easy topic.
- Why?
A.S.:Doctors and all medical personnel think first of all that they should be effective, and proper communication is not always necessary for them - I say that it is completely otherwise. The OnkoCafe Foundation recently conducted surveys of oncologists to see what doctors' needs are to improve communication with patients and their caregivers. There were two answers: more time and more specialized training in this area. When the patient is at the beginning of his journey, a psycho-oncologist is necessary because, in addition to promoting prophylaxis, he often conducts a psychoeducational interview with the patient and his family.
- What exactly is a psychoeducational conversation about?
A.S.:It involves discussing the results and what the patient heard in the doctor's office. Of course, we do not fall within the competences of medics then.
- What exactly is its purpose?
A.S.:It is all about explaining, translating medical jargon into understandable language and discussing all emotions, fears, fears, and beliefs accompanying this situation, which often influence the decisions that are taken by the patients.
- So at this point - at the beginning of the road we work with emotions. What are the next steps?
A.S.:The role of a psycho-oncologist is also to explain, prepare for the next diagnostic and therapeutic stages, and to start familiarizing the subject of the disease.
- What does the attempt to tame this topic begin with?
A.S.:It is often associated with disenchantment with myths accompanying oncological treatment, which make the therapeutic process very difficult. We have to look at the patient who is terrified, who does not know what will happen next.
- What can you do for him then?
A.S.:Step by step you should help the patient to re-arrange the world, get into it all, understand and be less afraid. At the very beginning, the patient needs support, someone as a guide, although they are never one person - a doctor, nursing staff, another patient and a psycho-oncologist can provide support.
- So the most important thing is adequate support?
A.S.:If the patient is well cared for, it will be easier at the beginning to enter the treatment process, it will be easier to bear it all in terms of emotions, which translates very strongly into the quality of life patient.
- Is there life after cancer?
- What attitudes do cancer patients adopt?
- How does cancer disease change a patient's life?
- What can you learn from cancer patients?
Replies to, inter alia, these questions will appear in subsequent interviews with the psycho-oncologist Adrianna Sobol.
Expert
Adrianna Sobol, psycho-oncologist, lecturer at the Medical University of Warsaw Psycho-oncologist and lecturer at the Medical University of Warsaw at the Department of Oncological Prevention. He works at the LuxMed Oncology Cancer Hospital in Warsaw. She is a member of the Board of the OnkoCafe Foundation - Together Better, a psychotherapist and founder of the Ineo Psychological Support Center. Has created an online training platform He alth Begins In The Head. Author of numerous publications in the field of psycho-oncology and he alth psychology.Co-author of the book "Tame cancer. Inspirational stories and a guide to emotions" (Znak, 2022). She acts as an expert in television programs, co-creates campaigns and social campaigns. He conducts numerous trainings and workshops in the field of psychology and personal development.
Psychooncologist and lecturer at the Medical University of Warsaw at the Department of Oncological Prevention. He works at the LuxMed Oncology Cancer Hospital in Warsaw. She is a member of the Board of the OnkoCafe Foundation - Together Better, a psychotherapist and founder of the Ineo Psychological Support Center. Has created an online training platform He alth Begins In The Head. Author of numerous publications in the field of psycho-oncology and he alth psychology. Co-author of the book "Tame cancer. Inspirational stories and a guide to emotions" (Znak, 2022). She acts as an expert in television programs, co-creates campaigns and social campaigns. He conducts numerous trainings and workshops in the field of psychology and personal development.