When Valerie Goldstein lost her battle to cancer at the age of 9, her parents Ed and Sue vowed to help families in similar situations gain easier access to more customized care.


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The Valerie Fund supports comprehensive health care services focusing on psychosocial programs for children with cancer and blood disorders close to home.


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The Valerie Fund Blog

The Psychosocial Approach: Psychologists Tackling Emotional Stress

Posted by The Valerie Fund on 1/19/16 3:37 PM
Pediatric psychologists play a prominent role in helping patients and families manage the impact of having a life threatening disease. From the moment a child and their family arrive at the hospital there is an urgency to confirm a suspected diagnosis of cancer or a blood disorder and begin treatment. Not only is their world turned upside down, the medical and psychosocial implications of the disease and treatment are major and ongoing. Parents who have difficulty coping with their child’s cancer diagnosis feel relieved after hearing that it is common for many parents to experience the same feelings. Some are unsure about how to discipline a child battling an illness. Siblings may experience their own fears and anxieties, and may receive less attention from parents while their brother or sister is in treatment. On-site psychologists offer psychological counseling services to patients and their parents when these needs arise 

title694322653.pngThe psychologist will identify and address the family and child’s strengths and vulnerabilities which can help them maintain as normal a life as possible during the inevitable ups and downs of treatment. Improving coping mechanisms causes less disruptions in school and work as well as a decrease in noncompliance of medical treatment. Some of the interventions psychologists provide are short and can help patients through a particularly challenging time while others may require long term counseling. The issues patients and family members fall into several broad categories: coping with stress and anxiety around the illness, pre-existing mental health issues, noncompliance with treatment, and grief or palliative care. 

 

Stress is particularly high for parents of children with cancer and blood disorders and studies consistently have shown that parents have higher rates of PTSD than either their children or adult cancer survivors suggesting that the experience of parenting a child with cancer may be more traumatic than actually having the illness. “A cancer or blood disorder diagnosis is devastating for the child and for everyone in the family. Many families and children pay a heavy emotional and psychological price, both short term as well as long term,” says Dr. Peri Kamalakar of the Newark Beth Israel Children's Hospital. Many adolescent patients, for example, need support coping with the stress and anxiety of illness around medical procedures. There are also patients, however, who may have underlying mental health or neurodevelopmental issues that makes psychological counseling very important. Among the primary issues reported and observed by hospital staff include anxiety, depression, physical symptoms without medical explanation (e.g. vomiting before procedures, eating and sleep disturbances, unusual pain), and behavioral problems such as hyperactivity or noncompliance with medical treatment.

 

With patients coming from diverse backgrounds, psychologists recognize the need to integrate a family’s culture into their treatment plan. Having a translator on staff for non-english speaking families is important for the families to make informed decisions during meetings with physicians, psychologists and social workers

 

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Chemotherapies that cross the blood-brain barrier can have an impact on IQ, memory, problem solving, attention and processing. Children may experience withdrawal or behavioral issues and have difficulty sleeping. Dr. Heather Ginter, Psychologist at Morristown Medical Center’s Goryeb Children’s Hospital administers neuropsychological testing to assess skills and learning issues within the context of the patient’s developmental stage and medical history. The interpretation of the results can also be used to help plan for the future as the child’s brain develops and the effects of cancer treatment appear over time. 

 


 

Having a psychologist available for individual and family counseling may help patients improve their coping mechanisms and decrease stress and anxiety.  As a result, it may increase their ability to comply with treatments, and lessen the side effects of treatment.  Long term effects will be similar, as children/families who undergo psychological counseling during their cancer treatment may learn how to decrease their stress levels in all aspects of their lives. This will lead them to ultimately decreasing the risk of suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. 

Click To Meet Child Psychologist Dr. Stephen Sands 

 

 

Topics: psychologists, psychosocial support

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Join in the fight against childhood cancer and blood disorders: donate, participate in an event, or volunteer your time. Our philosophy is that to truly heal the children whose care we are entrusted, we must treat them emotionally, socially, and developmentally, as well as medically.

 

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