Management of depression in cancer patients through positive therapy

Pages:79-80
B. Rajalakshmi and Hemalatha Natesan (Department of Psychology, Avinashilingam, University for Women, Coimbatore)

From Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, Tamil Nadu, India, 32 cases with cancer were screened using Case Study Schedule (Natesan, 2006) and Beck’s Depression Inventory (1974). It was found that 97% had ‘Severe’ depression and 3% had ‘Moderate’ depression. The main causes of depression were the diagnosis of cancer and the treatment for cancer. The entire sample was affected by fear and most of the subjects (above 80%) suffered from worries and anger. The psychological intervention called, Positive Therapy (Natesan, 2004) was administered on the sample individually, involving one hour per session. Ten sessions were given over a period of 2 weeks, after which they were re-assessed using the same tools. Results revealed that there was a statistically significant reduction in the mean depression of the sample after the administration of Positive Therapy; none of the subjects had ‘High’ depression and 37% had ‘No’ depression.