Up to 40 per cent of cancer patients suffer psychological distress yet the area of psycho-oncology has been neglected, the Irish Cancer Society said yesterday.
John McCormack, ICS chief executive, said that between 25 to 40 per cent of cancer patients experienced some form of distress ranging from the mildest form to an illness requiring drug treatment.
"Side effects can cause an enormous amount of distress. Loss of hair, for example, because of chemotherapy, can cause an enormous amount of distress. Psycho-oncology is about training people to be able to recognise that and give the interventions."
Mr McCormack said treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy worked better for a patient who was in the best psychological shape.
"But we simply don't have enough resources committed to this area."
He was speaking as the first conference of the all-island Irish Psycho-Oncology Group got under way at Dublin Castle yesterday. It continues today.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said the human and emotional and psychological aspects of a cancer diagnosis were "as frightening and as threatening" as the medical diagnosis itself.
"Sometimes we don't understand the emotional distress that's not only caused to the patient of cancer but to the wider family, to the husband, to the wife, to the children, as they seek to understand can they do more."
Meanwhile, consultant psychiatrist at St James's Hospital, Dr Ann-Marie O'Dwyer told The Irish Times that the "tyranny of positive thinking" was adding to the stress of cancer patients.
She said there was an argument that positive thinking was essential for people who had been diagnosed with cancer, so when someone had a bad day this added to their upset because they felt that their negative thoughts were making them ill.
"They get caught in a vicious circle," she said. "Everybody has their good days and their bad days but if you have a lot of bad days that's when you ask for help."
Dr O'Dwyer said some people were made to feel that they were to blame for their cancer, because of their stressed lifestyle, for example, "but there is no concrete scientific evidence to support that. People want to know why they got this and they latch on to something they read, but there's no real evidence to support that."
Prof Lesley Fallowfield, professor of psycho-oncology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, told the conference that breaking bad news was not the most difficult communication issue for doctors.
Putting complex information into layman's terms without being patronising was seen as a more difficult issue, she said. Doctors also noted the increasing problem of dealing with patients who had been misinformed by colleagues or the internet or media.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Health again stressed the need to centralise cancer services and said it was not possible to provide world-class services in every area. Ms Harney said the centralisation of children's cancer treatment at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin had led to this State's "extraordinary" success in treating the disease.
"It is not the same with other cancers because of, in particular, the fragmentation of the service."
A breast surgery unit should be doing at least 100 breast surgery procedures a year to secure the best outcomes, yet some units were doing fewer than half a dozen, she said.
The National Cancer Helpline number is 1800 200 700.
