How is breast cancer faced as a couple?

• April 23, 2024

This October 19 is celebrated on Day against breast cancer , a date that around the world symbolizes the fight against an invasive evil, which makes silence and lack of communication its main barrier in women who suffer from it.

About GetQoralHealth, interviewed the psychologist Arlisa Lifshitz who told us about the importance of information and communication with the couple when facing a diagnosis of breast cancer.

For the psychologist, a woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer lives it as a shock, the news impacts and disorganizes their emotions, facing many fears derived from disinfromation (deformity, abandonment, death, pain, the helplessness of children, to depend on other people). At the same time, many unanswered questions originate in the head and heart of the patient.

Unfortunately cancer is associated with the word "death" directly; however, this is not a rule.

One of the first contacts of communication happens with partner , who in the opinion of the expert, suffers the same process as the patient. "The most frequent thing is for the woman to tell her partner about the diagnosis." "But, it is also frequent that I do not tell him how he feels", trying to get the family out ahead.

The expert said that the most correct reaction, as a couple of a patient diagnosed with breast cancer, "is to express the true feelings and the true fears ... Above all, know how to listen ”.

It is generally thought that the couple and the family should cheer the patient with phrases such as "you can", "you want" and in reality women with breast cancer are great fighters and are committed to succeed.

What a woman with this condition really needs is a space where she can be heard, respected and accompanied, to express herself. Further, the couple of a woman with breast cancer You can also ask for help , professional or with friends to express themselves and in case it is necessary to change the daily family routine, derived from the treatment.

In the opinion of the expert communication with the doctor is very important , and if the patient is accompanied by her partner to the consultations, it will help even more to maintain a link and an open communication. "If a couple is sufficiently informed of each step of the process, they will keep their anguish under control, because they know what will happen." And this will help this trauma experience become an experience of growth, union and development .