Integrative Oncology Addresses Emotional Side Effects of a Cancer Diagnosis
According to the Association of Oncology Social Work and growing scientific evidence, the mind-body connection plays a significant role in health outcomes. Because of this, many cancer patients are integrating complementary therapies and self-care practices into their treatment plans.
Meredith Cammarata
“Cancer and its treatment can take a significant toll on a patient’s physical health, with fatigue, pain, and other, often debilitating, physical side effects,” said Meredith Cammarata, Social Work Manager, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and President Elect, AOSW. “Those physical impacts, along with changes in appearance, loss of independence, and uncertainty around the future and their mortality can deeply affect emotional and mental well-being.”
Linda Mathew
“Emotions like distress, anger, sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, and depression can be elicited quickly during a cancer journey,” added Dr. Linda Mathew, Social Work Manager, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and President, AOSW. “If someone already has a baseline of anxiety or any of these emotions, those feelings can intensify exponentially upon diagnosis and become quite disabling.”
Oncology Social Workers Help Patients Tap into Their Emotional Management Toolkit
Mathew noted that disabling emotions elicited during a cancer journey can impact one’s judgement, decision-making, communication with others, and ability to process information clearly.
“All of us have tools in our toolkit to help us manage our emotions,” she said. “But in a crisis, not everyone can tap into them. That’s why it’s important to have social workers, psychologists, or psychiatrists as part of the patient’s cancer care team – to help patients and their loved ones process their thoughts and emotions around what is happening and find new ways of coping.”
Cammarata said it’s important for patients to understand that they don’t need to suffer in silence – that with help from an oncology social worker, they can find ways to cope with the emotional side effects of a cancer diagnosis and still find joy and a good quality of life.
“A patient’s cultural background may impact their ability or willingness to recognize and report these emotional side effects as they would with physical side effects such as pain,” cautioned Mathew. “As social workers, we’re trained to lean in and ask open-ended questions about the physical manifestations of their cancer so they can see how those physical side effects are linked to emotional responses like anxiety and depression.”
Integrative Oncology Supports the Whole Person
Integrative oncology is a patient-centered, evidence-informed approach to cancer care that combines conventional treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy with complementary therapies that support the whole person – their mind, body, and spirit.
“Oncology social workers are essential members of the integrative oncology team,” Cammarata said. “Their unique training allows them to look at the macro-level essence of a patient’s life – how they become who they are based on internal forces within their control and external forces outside of their control. They help patients and their family caregivers process their cancer throughout its entire trajectory, from initial diagnosis through treatment to survivorship or end of life.”
“We don’t look at a patient as just their disease,” she added. “We see them for who they are: a living, breathing human being with families, friends, jobs, spiritual connections, and hobbies. The more we can help the interdisciplinary team see the entire person, the better we can care for the entire person. And the better quality of life the patient will have as a result.”
Oncology social workers provide counseling, connect patients and their caregivers to support groups, and link patients to specialized mental health services. Many practice treatment modalities such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectic behavior therapy (DBT), and other interventions to help patients find new ways of coping.
AOSW member and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Jennifer Diamond, said that her private, physician-owned hematology/oncology practice uses a variety of modalities to help patients become confident self-advocates, set healthy boundaries, and learn skills for managing their anxiety, depression, or difficulty adjusting to living with cancer. Read more about how she and her colleagues are using an integrative oncology approach to treat the whole person here.
AOSW Integrative Oncology Special Interest Group
Because patients frequently ask oncology social workers for information about integrative oncology modalities and for assistance in choosing and/or utilizing them, AOSW established an Integrative Oncology Special Interest Group (SIG) to:
- Provide a forum for communication among AOSW members regarding the evidence base for integrative oncology interventions and referrals.
- Educate and empower oncology social workers to utilize select integrative oncology interventions that are within their scope of practice.
- Facilitate the sharing of integrative oncology resources.
The SIG actively promotes the concept of integrative oncology through year-round programming, which includes attending and presenting at AOSW conferences as well as conferences and meetings sponsored by the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers (APOSW), Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other organizations.
The Integrative Oncology SIG also conducts quarterly educational meetings for its members with expert speakers on topics like CBT and palliative care, maintains a growing library of empirically supported data, and participates in the development of national best-practice guidelines.
“AOSW is committed to empowering oncology social workers in all settings, including health systems, rural hospitals, community clinics, and non-profit organizations,” Mathew said. “We continuously focus on evidence-based research while advancing the field, ensuring our members can practice at the highest level and actively participate in decision-making around best practices in oncology care.”
