Psychiatric Oncology

Overview

Caring for the Whole Patient

Patients with cancer often deal with severe side effects and psychological distress during cancer treatment. Coping successfully can have a substantial impact on their quality of life and on the quality of life of those around them. This program, a collaborative effort of the Department of Psychiatry and the Cancer Center, is designed to provide easily accessible, state-of-the-art treatment for the psychological distress often experienced during cancer treatment.

The Center for Psychiatric Oncology and Behavioral Science is committed to a cancer care model that is unparalleled in its ability to treat the whole patient, to foster the best patient and family experience and the best clinical outcomes.

Our research program, supported by the National Cancer Institute, has seven main areas of focus:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Survivorship
• Access to care
• Disparities
• Aging
• Health behaviors

Innovative Approaches

We are at the forefront of this growing field, offering the following advantages to our patients and their families:

• A Department of Psychiatry that is ranked # 1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2024-2025.
• Unparalleled access in New England to specialized psychiatric expertise in cancer and its treatments
• Ability to distinguish between and appropriately treat mood and behavior changes related to emotional coping versus those related to physiological issues such as nutrition, metastasis, or chemotherapy- or radiotherapy-induced changes
• An individualized approach that recognizes the differences in adjustment to diagnosis, disease-related physical changes and side effects depending on age, gender, personality, background and beliefs
• Compassion and expertise in dealing with the feeling of loss brought about by cancer

Multidisciplinary Patient Care

Every patient is cared for by a multidisciplinary team of cancer specialists, including experts in psychiatric oncology. Patients and the family members involved in their care are viewed as an important part of this team, as is the referring physician. Working together, we form a personalized treatment plan that addresses your needs and wishes and gives you the best possible chance of success.

Our contribution to this plan and to your treatment is to focus on your mood, your anxiety and your ability to think clearly while receiving treatment. This may include adjusting medications, clarifying medical and psychological aspects of your disease and treatment and suggesting treatments.

Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation:
All of our psychiatrists have had advanced sub-specialty training in the psychiatric care of medically-ill patients. We are able to offer comprehensive evaluations that include both medical and psychological causes of distress in individuals with cancer.

Expertise in Psychiatric Medications and Cancer Treatments:
We are sensitive and knowledgeable about the use of psychiatric medications during cancer treatments in order to avoid drug interactions and worsening of side effects.

Counseling/Psychotherapy Referrals:
As part of an individualized treatment plan, we often include a referral for counseling or psychotherapy. We work closely with Oncology Social Work and the Behavioral Medicine Service to ensure that patients are referred to the therapy that will be best for them.

Improving Care through Clinical Trials

Many of the specialists in this program are involved in clinical research to improve the quality of life for patients and their families during cancer treatment. Research areas include:

• Depression: Studies on the relationship between cancer and cancer treatments with depression have helped clarify that certain cancer treatments cause fatigue rather than depression, and are starting to show connections between depression and mortality in cancer patients. Further investigation is aimed at the effects of treating depression on survival and on how oncologists recognize and treat depression in their clinical practices. A study currently under way investigates major depression in patients with advanced lung cancer.
• Anxiety: Studies help to show how anxiety can affect patients' ability to complete cancer treatments and novel ways to treat anxiety with behavioral interventions. A study currently enrolling participants investigates behavioral intervention for anxiety in advanced lung cancer patients.
• Health Behaviors: These studies explore health behaviors, particularly smoking, among cancer patients and survivors, and of the quality of health insurance coverage for these survivors. Prevention studies include investigating National Lung Cancer Screening Trials participants' risk perceptions for cancer. A recently completed pilot study demonstrated the feasibility and potential efficacy of a behavioral and pharmacological intervention for smoking cessation in lung cancer patients. Our work also examines the efficacy and potential cost effectiveness of integrating brief mind-body interventions into cancer clinical care.