Psychopathological abnormalities like dissociative states, depressive and anxiety disorders are expected in patients with breast cancer compromising quality of life and course of tumor development. Due to the impact of cancer in the life of the patients several studies showed the importance and the goodness of the different psychiatric and psychotherapeutic interventions. Scientific literature confute the notion that several conditions are inevitable and therefore do not require treatment. Often most important factor precluding treatment for cancer patients is the misconception that for such patients being depressed or being anxious is normal.
The principal aim of our research project will be to define individual risk profiles of psychiatric suffering, using several psychometrics instruments and a structured interview (Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) -Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI) - Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) - Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Clinical Version (SCID-5) among breast cancer patients. Moreover, we would like to ensure to our patients a hyper-specialized psychological assistance delivering a short psychotherapy based on Dignity therapy (DT). All female breast cancer patients who underwent to surgical intervention that reported scars or amputations consecutively admitted, over the study period, to the Breast Unit of Policlinico Umberto I, will be invited to participate to the research. Study design: a randomized-controlled cross-over study comparing DT versus a control intervention (Psychoeducation). Eight sessions in a two-months period for the two groups to complete the assigned treatment. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of DT all patients will be revalued after the last session and then again during two follow-up sessions 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Subsequently each group will receive the second treatment within 8 weeks.
