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Cancer: partners left to suffer in silence
[mis à jour le 13 April 2007 à 15h24]
Partners of cancer sufferers appear to be at particular risk from depressive disorders. In fact, according to an American study, over the long term the stress levels of the partner can exceed those of the actual cancer patient.
Professor Michelle M. Bishop and her team at the University of Florida asked 177 couples in which one partner was suffering from cancer to answer a questionnaire regarding the state of their physical and psychological health.
Professor Bishop points out that according to the responses she received “20% of partners and 22% of patients showed clinical signs of depression”. She goes on to deplore the lack of treatment offered to sufferers’ partners. “Only 34% of them stated that they had received treatment, compared with 60% of the cancer patients”.
Another interesting point is that partners of cancer sufferers place more emphasis on the consequences of the disease on their social and professional life than do the victims themselves. Which is why the author insists on “the importance of offering appropriate care to the close relatives of cancer victims who at present are left to suffer in silence”.
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