Dealing With Your Cancer and Its Stresses
- You can work with a mental health professional to learn to accept your diagnosis.
- Think about yourself as more than an ovarian cancer patient.
- Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery may help.
- Focus on the parts of your cancer that you can control, such as acting as your own advocate with your medical team. Try not to stress over things that you can't control.
"When that takes precedence, all the other things start to fall away," Dr. Mona Robbins, a licensed psychologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet. "In my work with patients, I want to make sure that they recognize who they are as they’re going through treatment."
Read More If stress is becoming too oppressive, you can try relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation (where you tense and then relax each muscle group in your body), and guided imagery (where you picture yourself in a setting such as a beach that makes you feel calm). "Something else that’s helpful is the idea of distraction, where perhaps a person listens to music or does something that takes their mind away,” Dr. Robbins suggests. Look for the parts of your life where you still have control, such as advocating for yourself with your medical team. Try to let go of things you can't control. Look for the positive aspects of your life, rather than focusing solely on the negative, Dr. Robbins suggests. You might find as you move through your cancer journey that you're far stronger than you'd ever imagined, and you have more control over the situation than you thought you did. "Just the way you think can affect your energy, your mood, your desire, and your motivation. There’s this connection with the mind and the body that if we adjust the way that we think, we can really help our bodies to heal," Dr. Robbins says.
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