What Helps You Accept a Diagnosis and Find Inner Strength

A cancer diagnosis changes the normal rhythm of life and is almost always accompanied by anxiety, confusion, and a search for causes. These tips will help you draw on your own inner resources in the first weeks after diagnosis and throughout treatment.

What Helps

• Don't withdraw into yourself and your illness. Seek support and help from family, friends, and acquaintances, as well as patient organizations and peer support groups.
• Think of treatment as your own work. Recovery takes time, effort, and patience.
• Deal with problems as they arise.
• Focus on the current stage of treatment, without getting ahead of yourself.
• Do not self-medicate.
• Allow yourself not to discuss your diagnosis. Often a person simply doesn't want to talk about their illness with others, even close family. That's normal. Don't be afraid to say "no" to overly curious people.
• Don't measure your experience against other patients'. Every case and every body is different, even when the diagnosis is the same.
• Tell people how they can help you. Not everyone knows how to offer support, so let those who want to help know exactly what would be useful.
• Look for sources of strength in everyday things — a sunny day, a warm cup of coffee, big snowflakes outside the window, time with family, friends, or pets, walks, yoga, physical activity, work you love.

It's natural for negative thoughts and emotions to arise after a cancer diagnosis. Periods of emotional well-being may alternate with difficult ones, and that's normal.

When to See a Psychologist

Seek help if:

• you experience excessive anxiety and fear, irritability, or low mood;
• you feel insecure, helpless, or are losing confidence in yourself;
• conflicts or misunderstandings arise with family and those around you;
• you experience difficulties related to your sex life;
• you lose interest in things you used to enjoy;
• you're troubled by how you perceive your appearance and body.

A psychologist can help you learn to cope with stressful situations, believe in your own strength, and find your own inner resources.

Where to Get Support

Psychological support for patients and their families is available at the National Cancer Institute. Conversations with a psychologist are confidential.