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Breast Cancer Summary

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Breast Cancer Summary

Breast cancer is one of the most insidious diseases that human beings always have to deal

with, like millions of women are diagnosed yearly with breast cancer. Even though it has

devastating effects on the human body, early detection and appropriate treatment and medication

have always provided a solution and relief to breast cancer patients. In addition to offering breast

cancer patients medication, other forms of medically approved treatment can be offered to breast

cancer patients, as illustrated below.

It has been argued that improving the emotion regulation following mindfulness

meditation affects the depressive symptoms that are believed to cause stress in most young breast

cancer survivors. According to Boyle et al. (2017), mindfulness mediation has been identified to

reduce psychological distress among most individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Emotion regulatory strategies have been identified as the mediator that can be used to reduce the

effects of psychological distress among young women diagnosed with cancer. Some of the

emotional strategies that can be implemented include self-kindness and rumination.

The relationship between the self-presentation process and the physical activities in the

women who have been treated for breast cancer has also been investigated by in their article “A

Prospective Investigation of the Relationships between Self-Presentation Processes and Physical

Activity in Women Treated for Breast Cancer." They have stated that breast cancer treatment has

several psychological side effects on cancer patients (Berman et al., 2013). Some of the

psychological effects of breast cancer treatment include feelings of loss, emotional distress, and a

sense of vulnerability mood changes. The physiological effects of breast cancer treatment, on the

other hand, include nausea, insomnia, lung fibrosis and pain. However, they have argued that the
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naturally occurring changes in the self-presentation process can be administered to counter the

effects of cancer treatment.

Most of the research that has always been conducted has linked the altered cognitive

function to breast cancer treatment, more so chemotherapy. However, in their research m, they

are yet to identify and understand the underlying neuropsychological mechanisms (Brunet et al.

2014). According to the latest research, compromised attention and working memory have been

identified as the solution that can be implemented before the adjuvant treatment is offered.
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References

Berman, M. G., Askren, M. K., Jung, M. S., Therrien, B., Peltier, S., Noll, D. C., Zhang, M.,

Ossher, L., Hayes, D. F., Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., & Cimprich, B. (2013). Pretreatment

worry predicts neurocognitive dysfunction in women with breast cancer. PsycEXTRA

Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e500822014-003

Boyle, C. C., Stanton, A. L., Ganz, P. A., Crespi, C. M., & Bower, J. E. (2017). Improvements in

emotion regulation following mindfulness meditation: Effects on depressive symptoms

and perceived stress in younger breast cancer survivors. Journal of Consulting and

Clinical Psychology, 85(4), 397-402. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000186

Brunet, J., Sabiston, C. M., & Gaudreau, P. (2014). A prospective investigation of the

relationships between self-presentation processes and physical activity in women treated

for breast cancer. Health Psychology, 33(3), 205-213. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030414