Human behaviour is a complex interaction of action, reasoning and emotions. An individual is able to face all impediments as long as all these work in harmony. Every individual has his own resources, depending on his personality, from which he draws in time of crisis. An illness is what the patient feels and disease is what the doctor treats.

During an illness like cancer the fabrication of these three facets of personality get tattered and the patient is seen floundering in the sea of uncertainties. Man is mostly concerned with the well being of his body thus an illness like cancer which strongly debilitates the body strongly effects actions and emotions. As most of our actions are guided by emotions they take over as soon as the diagnosis of cancer is established. Loss of body control and the fear of death bring about a myriad of negative emotions like denial, fear, anger, anxiety, frustration, hopelessness and guilt.

Our automatic nervous system automatically switches on in time of crisis and the para sympathetic nervous system brings it back to normal. When a person like a cancer patient experiences long drawn frequent crisis situations, there is a constant state of arousal far removed from the normal. This effects the body physically as thousands of chemical reactions lead to production of hormones and chemicals which remain in the body even after the cessation of the stressful situation. This then becomes the ideal breeding ground for negative feelings mentioned above.

We all have these negative emotions, after all what would a human being be without them, for they make life rich in the way that one learns to fight. There is an invisible thin line between normal and abnormal emotions. In the latter case the behaviour is carried on even after the cessation of the reactive stimuli. Also the emotions are so exaggerated in a cancer patient that it makes the person unable to cope with everyday work situation.

All emotional support and counselling is done with the purpose of making the patient conscious of these feelings and helping him find out his own ways of coping with the situation where he has the responsibility of running his own life.

(Mrs. Indra Jasuja is M.A. in Psychology and holds Diploma in Medical and Social psychology from NIMHANS, Bangalore. She is a breast cancer survivor and has been caregiver to her husband who succumbed to pancreatic cancer. She has been the Vice President of the Breast Cancer Unit of Indian Cancer Society with whom she has worked for the last 16 years. She held the position of President of Cancer Sahyog for three years. She is a clinical Psychologist who has worked with psychiatric patients & drug addicts. She has been giving emotional support to cancer patients and their families for the last 16 years in the hospitals she visits. She also holds the position of Hony. Jt Sec, Indian Cancer Society, Gurgaon.)