Introduction
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a form of supportive guidance offered to cancer patients. It entails therapeutic practices aimed at assisting the patient to gain a feeling of motivation, better recognition and improved self-worth. It is recently the broadly used psychological cure for unrelenting pains in cancer. Pain is a complicated sensory and expressive experience mostly influenced by the patients’ imaginations, feelings and manners. Cognitive-behavioral therapy came up as a result of the discoveries that pain is a regular and often immobilizing problem in cancer patients. Estimates have shown that newly diagnosed cancer patients experience less pain compared to advanced cancer patients.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used to help cancer patients in several ways. In its efforts to help cancer patients, it is divided into various steps. The first step is pain education during which the patients are meant to understand how their reactions to pain affect their experiences. They thus recognize the importance of coping with this pain about pain control (Abernethy et al, 2006). The second step is training; the patients are taught skills of managing pain. For each skill, the psychotherapist provides an educational ground where guided applications are put in place and feedbacks is obtained.
The patients are then encouraged to practice the skills learned in non-demanding conditions such as at their homes. They are further supported to apply these skills to more demanding tasks such as managing pain while walking. The final step includes assisting the patients to develop programs for upholding these skills and conquering setbacks in their efforts to cope.
The treatment plan for a hypothetical cancer patient
Cancer treatments are complicated and are mostly carried out over a long period. The treatment plan is divided into pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment periods. The pre-treatment period involves evaluating maladaptive conditions and subsequent behavioral patterns. During this period, the therapists’ task is to support, accept and facilitate interactions between him and the patients. The relationship between the therapist and the patient should not be coercive.
During the treatment period, diagnostic tests are performed and treatments administered. Records of the drugs and dosages given to the patients are kept. The patients are educated on aspects such as how to maintain pain involved during cancer infections. The treatment plan entails the dates when the patient goes for medical checkups and the doses administered. Effects of the treatments received are considered. The patients are advised on preventive measures such as health and well-being maintenance. Recommendations on appropriate nutrition, exercise, and support are offered.
The post-treatment period is typified by a slow recovery from the negative effects of treatment such as fatigue and infertility. The treatment plan at this point involves counteracting the symptoms and problems which persist as late effects. It also includes coordinating the continued care of the patient such as the management of last-minute effects and tactics for health promotion and successive cancer monitoring. The psychotherapist should maintain good points of contact with his patients during the post-treatment period (Keefe and Abernethy, 2005).
Conclusion
Current research testing the effectiveness and validity of cognitive behavioral therapy for pain associated with cancer has shown that it significantly reduces pain. The provision of cancer treatment summaries and care plans is nowadays recognized as a major component of care coordination that is likely to promote the provision of high-quality tumor care. For optimal results, the cancer patients should be referred to a competent psychotherapist.
References
Abernethy, A. P. Keefe F.J. McCrory, D.C. Scipio, C.D. Matchar, D.B. (2006).
Behavioral therapies for the management of cancer pain: a systematic review. IASP Press; p. 789-801.
Keefe, F.J. and Abernethy, A.P. (2005). Psychological approaches to understanding and treating disease-related pain. Annual Rev Psychol; 56:601–630.