Dégi László Csaba: About ‘mental health’… and what typically follows those chilling words from a doctor
Dégi László Csaba shared the following post by European Cancer Organisation on LinkedIn, adding the following:
“On MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK IN EUROPE I’d like to talk with you about ‘mental health’… and what typically follows those chilling words from a doctor: ‘I’m sorry… but you have cancer.’ Patients often become terrified… of the treatments: the chemotherapy, and radiation, and surgery… and that never-ending question: ‘will the cancer ever return’.
This is Mental Health Awareness Week in Europe, and as president of the European Cancer Organisation and as someone who’s devoted his career to the mental health of cancer patients and survivors, I can assure you: many of them suffer in silence, struggling to cope.
We can, and we must, do more to help them. As a first step: we need much more screening… and much better screening… to assess the emotional and psychological well-being of every person in Europe diagnosed with cancer. These structured ‘assessments’ can help healthcare professionals identify and address the anxiety, and depression… the fear, and trauma, and uncertainty that follow a cancer diagnosis.
Europe’s ambitious Beating Cancer Plan has begun this effort. But it’s up to us to ensure it continues… and expands. With Europe’s parliamentary elections just a month away, now is the time to ask every candidate to commit to Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan… and to make the mental health of cancer patients… a much greater priority.”
Quoting European Cancer Organisation’s post:
“On Europe’s Mental Health Awareness Week, we are shining a light on mental health and cancer care. For those fighting cancer, as well as for survivors and caregivers, the journey is not just physical, but also emotional and psychological.
Hear more on this topic from ECO President Dr. Dégi László Csaba.”
Source: Dégi László Csaba/LinkedIn and European Cancer Organisation/LinkedIn
Dégi László Csaba is a Full Professor with habilitation and a researcher at the Babeș-Bolyai University, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work in Cluj Napoca, Romania. He is a licensed principal social worker with a private practice. He is the Executive Secretary of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) and a past member of the Board of Directors. He is also the President of the European Cancer Organization (ECO) in Brussels, advocating for psychosocial oncology care across Europe and beyond.
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