“Coping with Cancer” series by Adrian Pogacian – “Special” Coping Strategies

In this third installment of the “Coping with Cancer” series, Adrian Pogacian delves into the complexities of psychological coping strategies for cancer patients. The article explores two controversial approaches—denial and the emphasis on maintaining a positive attitude—shedding light on their potential benefits and challenges.

Pogacian presents an insightful discussion on how these strategies impact both patients and their medical teams, urging a balanced perspective on managing emotional and mental health during cancer treatment.

“Special” Coping Strategies

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy”
—Albert Camus

Nowadays, two issues are most disputed among psycho-oncologists from the point of view of coping strategies:

1. Denial of cancer diagnosis – broadly speaking, denial as a coping strategy varies considerably. Ambivalence and ambiguity are often used in the service of denial, which can frustrate medical teams when patients and families suddenly or radically change their minds about important decisions.

From another perspective, studies show that denial plays a central role in coping with cancer, and its effects are largely positive. This may seem surprising given the controversial reputation of denial. Nevertheless, it appears that as long as denial does not affect the patient’s adherence to medical instructions, it has great potential to improve their quality of life.

2. Positive attitude/thinking – keeping a positive attitude does not guarantee a better chance of survival in cancer patients, as there is no scientific proof regarding this issue. Moreover, some researchers talk about the contemporary tyranny of positive thinking, which sometimes victimizes people.

If positive thinking helps the patient, it’s great; if not, other coping strategies must be used. Defining what constitutes a truly positive attitude is a complex issue. However, being “too positive” all the time can lead to denial, which can prevent the patient from receiving the medical information and treatment they need.

In conclusion, when faced with negative daily events, people may choose to suppress negative emotions or express them. While there can be benefits to suppressing or avoiding negative emotions, there can also be downsides. There is some evidence that failure to cope with negative events in everyday life ultimately leads to poor health.

Hence, patients should find the good in the bad. Under these circumstances, experiencing negative affect alongside positive affect can be beneficial to long-term health because individuals are able to confront and find something positive in life’s stressors.

Other posts by Adrian Pogacian.

Adrian Pogacian, MS Psychology, clinical psychologist with executive education in Psycho-oncology, holding a degree in Global Health Diplomacy from Geneva Graduate Institute.

Currently, researcher and associate lecturer with focus on Impact of Cancer Diagnosis on Couples and Families, Communication in Cancer Care and Posttraumatic Growth. His expertise is on Coping with Cancer and managing Fear of Recurrence.

Additionally, Founder of INCKA Psycho-oncology Center, Host of Beyond the Cancer Diagnosis Interview Series as well as Writer and Host Content in Psycho-oncology at OncoDaily.com, co-author of the first Romanian Multimodal Care Guideline in Pediatric Onco-hematology, active contributor to the International Psycho-oncology Society, presently IPOS Fear of Cancer Recurrence SIG member and IPOS Early Career Professionals in Psycho-Oncology Committee founder member.