Coping with Cancer: Cancer Psychology Newcastle

Being diagnosed with cancer can be difficult to adjust to for a variety of reasons. It can lead to excessive worry brought about by the illness itself - treatment, changes to the body, long-term health implications and the effects it may have on work and family. You may also consider your own mortality. These issues might be distressing and can cause significant upset. Cancer counselling can help by giving you the space to discuss highly charged information allowing you to manage these emotions.

Mental Health and Cancer

When someone is first dealing with a cancer diagnosis it can feel like a soup of emotions where you might feel out of control and overwhelmed. It is normal for people to react in different ways as they try to navigate their way through the process. Many people move through the stages of grief while they try to find a new norm. These stages are denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Often this process is not linear, and people will move back and forth through the stages as they learn to adjust.

There may also be physical changes due to the cancer itself and its treatments. Physical changes can include hair loss, swelling, weight loss or weight gain. For all these reasons, you might find it hard to cope. It can affect your mental health at any stage of the process from initial diagnosis to treatment, or even after treatment has finished.

Do I Need Help Coping With Cancer?

When someone is struggling to cope with cancer, it can affect their mental and physical health. Symptoms can vary from person to person but commonly include:

Feeling tearful and sad
Feelings of loss relating to what they thought their imagined future would be like
Feeling hopeless and worried about the future
Feeling tired
Anxiety
Guilt
Frustration
Lack of identity
Feeling empty
Problems sleeping
Feeling frightened

If these symptoms become too much, there is no shame in asking for help from a professional.

Cancer Psychology

We understand that having a diagnosis of cancer is life-changing, and it is normal to feel distressed. Cancer therapy can help you adjust to the impact of diagnosis and treatment. It can support you when dealing with changes in life circumstances, including work, social life, and relationships. It can also support you with any changes to mood including anxiety, low mood, anger or fears of cancer coming back.

Benefits of Cancer Psychology

Having a non-judgemental space away from family to share your emotions and distress
Helping you to build resilience through your cancer journey
Providing you with more ways to cope
Helping you feel less isolated and having someone to support you
A space to explore how you feel and perhaps find a different perspective on your thoughts

Types of Cancer Psychology & Therapy

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is based on the theory that all thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are linked. Therefore, when someone is thinking negatively about the future it is likely to be having a negative effect on their mood. CBT uses a set of techniques to help reframe thoughts.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT helps by supporting you to come to terms with the things that cannot be changed whilst staying true to your values. It helps teach skills in mindfulness so you can stay more present rather than going over the past or worrying about things that have not yet happened.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

Often when someone has cancer, they can experience anxiety and depression. They may also experience guilt or criticise themselves for choices they made in the past. CFT teaches the person to respond compassionately towards themselves at these times rather than critically.

Compassion Focused Therapy

What to Look For From a Cancer Psychologist

When looking for a Psychologist, it’s important to ensure the psychologist is someone you would feel comfortable with sharing your emotions with. It is important to check they have experience working with the difficulty you are struggling with and are accredited by their profession’s governing body.

Why Choose Turning Tides Psychology?

At Turning Tides, we have Psychologists who are highly trained and have many years of experience working with health conditions, such as cancer. Counselling for cancer patients aims to provide you with the tools to help you cope better.

Our psychologists can help you understand the difficulties you are facing with your cancer diagnosis, exploring some of the different factors that have brought you to where you are today. Based on these individual factors, they will teach you strategies to effectively help you cope and allow you to move forward in your life.

We offer regular face-to-face appointments at our modern and comfortable clinic in Hoult’s Yard, Newcastle or we can offer online therapy via Zoom if you live further afield or have a preference for online sessions.

Our Fees

We have tried to keep our pricing as simple as possible. We charge £120 for a 60-minute appointment, regardless of whether this is an assessment or therapy session. Our fees are the same for face-to-face appointments and online appointments as you will receive the same high standard of care from our psychologists, regardless of how it is delivered.

Get in touch today

A psychologist will then be in touch to arrange a free 15-minute no-obligation call, where we can discuss your requirements in more detail and you can get a feel for whether Turning Tides is the right psychology practice for you.

If we’re not right for you, we’ll try and signpost you to somewhere that is.

Please note – Turning Tides is not a crisis service, and if you feel you need urgent support or are experiencing a mental health crisis then it is important that you contact your GP if they are available, or attend A&E.