Level of distress and prevalence of psychiatric disorders equal to low-risk women
WASHINGTON — It has been thought that women at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer who do not take the now-available genetic tests are not taking the tests because of their fear of the results. But, this is not the case. According to new research, these women neither worry about the risk nor suffer from psychological distress as much as previously thought. These findings are reported in the October issue of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
A sample of 464 women at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer were examined on measures of psychological distress, cancer worries and current and past psychiatric disorders. These women were selected from the Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Study because they already had a diagnosis of cancer and were in remission or had at least one family member who had been diagnosed with one of these cancers.
Remarkably, said the authors, we found that the high-risk women in this sample scored very low on the measures of psychological distress and psychological disorders. These findings hold true for both the women with and without histories of cancer. Even the women who had never had cancer but were at high risk had little or no worries about developing the disease. Interestingly, these women at an increased risk without actually having cancer “had even lower rates of psychological distress and psychiatric disorders than women sampled from primary medical care and community settings,” said Dr. Coyne. “ We also found that these women weren’t any more likely to suffer from major depression or from an anxiety disorder.”
Even the women in our sample who did screen positive for psychological distress, said the authors, “still were nonetheless no more likely to be clinically depressed than unscreened women in a primary care setting.” Furthermore, when a clinical disorder is ruled out, psychological distress proves to be temporary and not require as much psychological or pharmacological treatment.
This is one of the first studies to examine a large sample and find that long-term survivors of breast and ovarian cancer can be psychologically well adjusted. “These women,” say the authors, “defy the not unreasonable assumption that they would be distressed, depressed and anxious. The experience of living with a familial risk of cancer may have instilled the psychological resources and resilience that may compensate for the vulnerability felt with being at risk for cancer.”
Article: “Distress and Psychiatric Morbidity Among Women From High-Risk Breast and Ovarian Cancer Families,” James C. Coyne, Ph.D., Kathleen Calzone, Ph.D., and Barbara L. Weber, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Health Care System; Nili R. Benazon, Ph.D., Wayne State University, School of Medicine; Colette Glynn Gaba, Medical College of Ohio; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 68, No. 5.
(Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office.)
James C. Coyne, Ph.D., can be reached by telephone at 215-662-7035 or by email at jcoyne@mail.med.upenn.edu
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 159,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.
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Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology