Adjustment Disorder in Female Breast Cancer Patients:Prevalence and Its Accessory Symptoms

Women diagnosed with breast cancer may have serious psychological problems and will suffer from adjustment disorder(AjD).We investigated the prevalence of AjD in female breast cancer patients who were diagnosed within 1 year and examined the severe life events they experienced,and the most common symptoms of AjD.342 newly diagnosed(<1 year)female breast cancer patients were recruited from Tongji Hospital and Hubei Cancer Hospital in Hubei,China,from July 2018 to May 2019.The patients completed the self-report questionnaire including demographic characteristics and the scale ADNM-20 for the diagnosis of AjD.SPSS20.0 was used for data analysis.As a result,the prevalence of AjD in breast cancer patients was 38.6%.Patients from rural areas and lacking of exercise were more likely to suffer from AjD(P<0.05).The prevalence of AjD in patients who did not regard breast cancer as the most severe life event was higher than that in patients who took breast cancer as the most severe life event(44.4%vs.33.9%,P<0.05;OR=1.728,95%CI=1.072-2.787).The symptom that scored highest was preoccupation(3.15).We found that the prevalence of AjD in women with breast cancer in this study is very high and warrants more attention.Patients from rural areas,lacking of exercise and subject to multiple stressors are more likely to suffer from AjD.The commonest and severe symptom is preoccupation.

PTSD Outcome,Adjustment Disorder and Methods of Treatment

This research is pointed up on“Adjustment disorder and adaptation with anxiety,stress and depression following the catastrophic life events”.We explained the results of psychopathological and psychosocial effects of post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD),especially depression and anxiety caused by catastrophic stressful life events or other factors(war,terrorist acts,etc.),and then discussed and presented different methods and forms of treatments.Our theoretical studies,in the fields of PTSD-Psychogeriatry and Psychiatry in one side and different Seminars in Paris etc.in other side,have completed this research;the studies at the University of Illinois,as full time Prof.are developed in this working research.Anxiety disorders,depression and stresses are not a new phenomenon in the field of psychiatry,they have existed several years B.C.,but their aetiology and physiopathology were not clear.Moreover,the treatments were on the basis of some medical plants or traditional and local methods which existed yet,more or less in some African or Asiatic countries,the hospitals for mental disorders had been limited;in plus,environmental factors,also heredity,quality of life and the degree of the vulnerability of individuals and the capacity of the patients to cope with the pain.etc were neglected.In our time,because of multifactorial reasons,anxiety disorders and depression,which are often accompanied by obsessive-compulsive disorders,are the most prevalent pathology in Psychiatry that we discussed in this paper(Figure 1).Actually,because of the global COVID-19 pandemic,the frequency of depression and anxiety disorders,according to the global news and audio-visual information,are significantly increased.Our teaching experiences,also clinical researches and observations in the Mental Health Centres showed clearly that in extreme cases when major depression and anxiety are accumulating and occur to coexist together,they can exert serious pathological effects not only on the cardiovascular system and endocrine glands but also on the cognitive system more particularly on flexibility,memory,creativity and attention(Figure 2);moreover,the coexistence of anxiety and a psychiatric condition can produce not only cognitive disorder,but in some cases-ex.inability to cope with pain or inadaptability to stress,may hasten and intensify ageing process.In many cases as shown,the anxious subjects,when confronted to psychosocial crisis,feel fear and expect to be facing to adverse events or catastrophic situations and believe to live negative future events;in plus,exhibit emotional distress,repetitive dreams and severe insomnia.In these cases,according to our experiences,in parallel to pharmacotherapy,the relaxation and complete massages in one side,physical education,meditation,positive emotion and muscular release etc.in other side,are useful to help these patients for a best control of emotional distress and relatively reduce anxiety and depression.We add that the syndrome of stress,depression and anxiety has been recognized not only in the different victims of war,but also in the non-war(cf.other factors noted in this paper:fig.1)traumatized population.