Psychotherapy targets for comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder in cancer patients

Abstract

The article describes the main psychotherapeutic targets and individual psychological characteristicsof cancer patients with comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), using the example of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and rectal cancer patients in remission following surgery (mastectomy, prostatectomy, and colostomy). The study was carried out at N. N. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology. The experimental group consisted of 40 patients with breast cancer, 32 patients with prostate cancer, and 19 patients with rectal cancer, in accordance with the selection criteria and based on a specialized questionnaire designed to detect symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Trauma Screening Questionnaire). A control group, for comparison, was comprised of 51 women with breast cancer, 53 patients with prostate cancer, and 22 patients with rectal cancer who showed signs of constructively coping with cancer. The assessment of individual psychological characteristics of patients in these nosological groups was carried out using a battery of experimental psychological techniques. In order to enhance the adaptive capacity of the personality in patients with oncological diseases, to prevent the likelihood of developing PTSD, and develop the effectiveness of treatment, the following general psychotherapeutic targets were identified: intrapsychic maladaptive type of response to the disease, excessive fixation on the disease and care during illness; low risk tolerance manifested by patients’ reluctance to act in the absence of reliable guarantees of success; destructive and deficient personality functions; shortage of positive cognitive representations of the world and themselves; destructive guilt associated with the illness and family relationships; excessive desire for autonomy and independence that reduces the possibility of receiving social support.