Tag: depression

Surviving Cancer: The Hidden Emotional Battle

In this article I discuss the profound impact of cancer on individuals and society, focusing on personal experiences and mental health challenges faced by survivors. It emphasizes the importance of prevention, understanding risk factors, and the emotional toll of cancer. Despite survival rates improving, many experience ongoing anxiety and depression post-treatment, necessitating better mental health support.

My husband and I have almost lost count of the number of friends and family who have been diagnosed with cancer in the last few years. You may be able to say the same.

Some of them are doing well after grueling treatment regimens that sapped their strength and their hair. For some of them, we have celebrated their life with their loved ones at poignant memorial services.

Cancer touches all of us in some way. Whether it’s our own health or a family member, cancer robs us of time, freedom, peace of mind, and money. Cancer costs our society in terms of increasing insurance premiums, funding needed for research, and lost productivity.

Right now our best defense against cancer is prevention. We should all know the risk factors, especially those that pertain to us. We are learning that genetics contributes to many cases.

But lifestyle still remains the biggest variable that we can potentially control. Use of and exposure to tobacco, alcohol, ultraviolet light, workplace toxins, and diet should be targets in our cancer prevention efforts.

Cancer also takes an emotional and mental toll on those affected and their families. This article I am sharing from Iowa Public Radio via KFF Health News puts faces on this aspect of cancer,

More Americans Are Surviving Cancer. But the Mental Health Challenges Can Persist.

By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio

A woman with brown hair tied up in a bun stands inside a building near some windows. Snow is on the ground outside and people sit a large tables behind her.
Morgan Newman was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer at age 24 but has been free of cancer free for a decade. She says she still deals with lingering fears of the cancer returning. (Natalie Krebs/Iowa Public Radio)

The cancer diagnosis came as a shock, disrupting Morgan Newman’s plans for launching her life. It was 2015, and she was working as a dental assistant in Des Moines, Iowa, while studying to become a social worker.

After an abnormal result on her Pap smear, her doctor brought her back in to check the tissue for signs of cancer. Newman wasn’t that concerned at first. She was only 24 years old.

“I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. Friends had received abnormal results, she recalled, “and they turned out to be OK.”

But during the follow-up examination, she started bleeding so heavily that the doctor stopped the exam and immediately referred her to a gynecologic oncologist. Newman soon learned she had cervical cancer. She had just moved into her own apartment for the first time.

An increasing number of Americans are getting — and surviving — cancer. There were more than 18 million cancer survivors in the U.S. in 2025, and the National Cancer Institute estimates that number will grow to 22 million by 2035. But long after completing treatment, many survivors face lingering mental health challenges that go unaddressed.

“Data provided by USAFacts”

Newman underwent six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. Her scans after that were clear until the six-month mark, when her doctors found suspicious nodules in her lungs.

Newman endured additional chemotherapy, which had more side effects. It was physically exhausting. But she was also struggling psychologically as she watched her friends hit significant adult milestones.

“My friends were getting married, they were having children, you know, progressing in their lives and their careers, and I just felt stuck,” she said.

Newman had done therapy before, for anxiety and depression. But after she got sick, she had to quit. Therapy was too expensive now that she had her other medical bills. And amid the doctor appointments, college courses, and her full-time job, she didn’t have the time.

Newman’s cancer treatment ended, and the scans remained clear. By 2017, she had a new job with better health benefits. So she decided she could go back to therapy.

She worried that every ache and pain could be the cancer coming back. At times, it was emotionally difficult to spend time with her friends who had kids, because the radiation treatment had damaged her reproductive system, leaving her unable to have her own children.

Now, almost 10 years later, Newman remains free of cancer, and cancer prevention has become her passion. She started a new job in December as the Iowa grassroots manager for the lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society, and she has served on the boards of other cancer organizations in Iowa.

But she continues to go to therapy to deal with the lingering anxiety, as well as the lingering effects of her treatment, such as her infertility.

“The fear of the unknown really takes over and can physically impact your body, as well as your mind,” she said. That question kept circling: “What if the cancer is back?”

“Data provided by USAFacts”

Cancer’s ‘Silent’ Impacts

Studies show cancer survivors experience anxiety and depression that can last years after they finish treatment.

The advocacy group Cancer Nation surveyed patients nationwide last year. It found that about a third of those who had finished treatment reported anxiety about their cancer potentially coming back, as well as problems with not feeling like their “old self.” Only 1 in 5 of the surveyed survivors reported seeing a mental health professional.

Finding therapists who understand how cancer can affect people physically and emotionally can be a challenge, especially in states like Iowa. According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, the number of Iowans living five years after their diagnosis has increased about 0.4% each year since 2000, and the state has the second-highest rate of new cancer diagnoses. Researchers aren’t sure why, but the University of Iowa scientists who run the registry are taking a deep dive into the issue in a two-year, state-funded project.

Iowa is also largely rural. Some of the counties that have the highest cancer rates also have the fewest mental health workers. Newman went through several therapists before she was able to get an appointment with Julie Larson, a Des Moines-based therapist who works with a lot of cancer survivors.

“I just felt like I needed something more specific to what I was going through,” Newman said.

In Larson’s practice, it’s common for clients like Newman to start therapy months or even a year after finishing treatment, when they realize they aren’t feeling how they expected to feel.

“Physically, people’s bodies have changed,” Larson said. “And they are reconciling loss and grief. And those experiences are a little bit more silent, a little more invisible, and friends and family don’t often fully understand or grasp that.”

Larson said cancer survivors often seek her out because she understands cancer and the different forms of treatment people may have experienced.

“I’m not a doctor, but I’ve done this a long time. So I know what happens when people have Adriamycin. I know the treatment protocol for carboplatin,” she said, citing chemotherapy drugs.

A man in a dark blue suit jacket stands in front of a reception desk. A sign reading "MercyOne Richard Deming Cancer Center" is on the wall behind the desk.
Richard Deming, medical director at the MercyOne Richard Deming Cancer Center in Des Moines, Iowa, says the clinic has recently added services such as yoga and counseling to help cancer patients and survivors deal with mental health issues. (Natalie Krebs/Iowa Public Radio)

Oncology and Mental Health

When it comes to treating cancer, the field of oncology often neglects mental health, said Patricia Ganz, an oncologist and professor at the UCLA School of Public Health who has spent decades doing research on cancer survivors and their lingering challenges.

“We know how to give pills. We know how to give pain medicine, sleep medicines. But we’re not really schooled in the antidepressants,” she said.

There’s an increasing awareness about the need to screen for psychological distress in cancer patients and the need to provide mental health services for cancer patients and survivors, Ganz said, but expert-recommended screenings and referrals don’t always happen to the extent they should.

The MercyOne Richard Deming Cancer Center in Des Moines has started offering services such as counseling, music therapy, and mindfulness sessions to reduce stress for those in and out of treatment.

“You get cared for intensely when you’re getting treated for cancer,” By contrast, when people complete treatment, the care typically shifts: “It’s almost like, ‘You should feel fortunate that you’re cancer-free and just get on with your life.’”

Richard Deming

To treat cancer comprehensively, Deming said, doctors need to pay attention to far more than just physical symptoms. That requires a shift in the way doctors treat patients, he said.

“Every step along the way, whether it’s through diagnosis or treatment or follow-up, we have to ask, ‘What are the issues you’re experiencing?’” Deming said. “Not just: ‘Do you have cancer? Did we get rid of the cancer?’”

This article is from a partnership that includes Iowa Public Radio, NPR, and KFF Health News.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

After You Hear It’s Cancer-a book review

“After You Hear It’s Cancer” by Dr. Lori Leifer and John Leifer offers a comprehensive guide for navigating cancer diagnosis and treatment. Drawing on personal experiences, the authors provide practical advice on various stages of cancer care, including diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment challenges, along with resources for support and advocacy.

Keep reading

Points to Ponder

How has cancer touched your life in the past year? What did you learn from the experience? Did it prompt any changes in how you approach your own health?

What more information do you need about protecting yourself from cancer?

There is plentiful “advice” on line about cancer prevention and cures. But your best souce of counsel is still a physician who knows you. Seek advice from that person who has invested time, money, and thought into knowing the most about you and how best to help you.

Learn more about the cover photo at this link.

Celebrating Life after Cancer

Celebration of Life Mural-The mural was created to honor those surviving the disease of cancer. The mural’s tiles are inscribed by cancer survivors and represent the continuous flow of life.

Keep reading

Exploring the HEART of Health

I appreciate your time reading this post and invite you to follow this blog and me on social media.

I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

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I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha

Transforming Mental Illness Diagnosis and Treatment with Biomarkers

In this article I discuss potential use of biomarkers to diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders, particularly depression. Research is underway to identify these which could improve diagnosis and treatment, though concerns about cost, insurance, and privacy persist. Adequate funding for research is crucial.

This information is current as of the date of original publication or update but may have changed by the time you read this. Do not use this information for diagnosis or treatment purposes. Before making health decisions, discuss with a qualified healthcare professional.

Imagine you consult a physician for a problem. The doctor asks you questions and examines you. Then you have blood tests, cultures, X-rays,a CT scan or MRI. You hope these tests show what is “wrong” so the doctor can treat you.

But what if all the tests are “normal”? Normal tests suggest that your symptoms may be due to a cause for which there is no biomarker.

A biomarker is a diagnostic test that indicates a specific disease or condition.

biomarker-A biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease.

Both physicians and patients would like a biomarker for every disease. But many common conditions do not yet have a biomarker.

These include migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, many skin conditions, Alzheimer’s dementia, depression, and other psychiatric disorders.

a female physician talking to a male patient

For these disorders, physicians make a “clinical diagnosis”.

clinical diagnosis-The process of identifying a disease, condition, or injury based on the signs and symptoms a patient is having and the patient’s health history and physical exam

Much of medical research is devoted to finding biomarkers for these and other conditions. This article from KFF focuses on finding biomarkers for psychiatric disorders, especially depression. Such tests could be helpful not only for diagnosis but also for guiding therapy.

But there are potential downsides, like cost, insurance coverage, privacy, and potential discrimination, as explained in the article.

Psychiatrists’ Use of Biomarkers Could Open a New Window Into Mental Health Diagnoses

by Jamie Ducharme, March 17, 2026

Amanda Miller was 30 and pregnant with her second child in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when she developed depression. After she gave birth, her depression worsened. It was joined by a slew of unexplained health problems.

Miller, a neuroscientist, said she saw several psychiatrists and got prescriptions for drug after drug. Over two years, she tried four antidepressants and two antipsychotics. None of that helped — until her primary care doctor noticed high levels of an autoimmune marker in her blood.

A specialist then ran “every test in the book,” Miller said. Eventually, she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus and prescribed an inflammation-lowering steroid. Some of her symptoms let up within hours. Her depression subsided not long after.

“I was convinced it was a placebo effect,” Miller said, “but then it kept working.”

Had inflammation been contributing to her mental health problems all along? Miller thinks so, although she can’t know for sure. Her psychiatrists never raised that possibility, she said.

Laboratory vs Clinical Diagnosing

In most medical specialties, doctors can confirm whether to pursue a type of treatment through tests, such as blood work, imaging, and biopsies. Mental illnesses, however, have historically been diagnosed and treated based on outward symptoms. That could change.

The American Psychiatric Association in a January paper included ideas for how it might incorporate biomarkers — biological indicators of mental illness that could show up on diagnostic tests — into future versions of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The DSM, sometimes called “psychiatry’s bible” because of its influence in the field, provides criteria for diagnoses. It’s used by clinicians assessing patients and by insurance companies deciding whether to cover care.

‘Coordinated’ Research Needed

Psychiatric biomarkers are not ready for widespread use yet, the paper emphasized. Scientists have researched the topic for decades, with little to show for it.

More research is needed to prove these metrics are valid and reliable enough to be used in patient care, the APA’s paper said, and other researchers have raised questions about how their use could affect health care costs, insurance coverage, and patient privacy.

Adding biomarkers to the DSM would be “a very big deal,” said Jonathan Alpert, an author of the January paper and vice chair of the APA’s Future DSM Strategic Committee.

Access to test results, along with symptoms, could streamline insurance coverage decisions and help clinicians make faster and more accurate diagnoses and treatment recommendations, he said. If patients’ biology suggested they’d respond better to one treatment than another, their doctor could waste no time in starting there.

A Prescribing “Crapshoot”

Currently, prescribing psychiatric medications can be “a bit of a crapshoot,” with clinicians unable to predict whether they will work for a particular patient, said Matthew Eisenberg, director of the Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In a seminal, early 2000s trial funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, about 30% of the study’s participants with depression saw symptoms disappear with their first antidepressant treatment. That study is still one of the most robust antidepressant trials conducted — although researchers have more recently argued that fewer people are cured by these medications than its results suggest.

9 different medication pills and capsules of various colors

Such a trial-and-error approach can lead to ineffective and unnecessary prescriptions, a topic of attack by proponents of the Make America Healthy Again movement, spearheaded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy has been especially critical of antidepressants, having linked them to violence after a mass shooting without evidence and blaming doctors for overprescribing medications for children.

HHS is analyzing psychiatric diagnosis and prescription trends and evaluating alternative mental health treatment approaches, with a particular focus on children, spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in a statement. Hilliard did not respond to a question about Kennedy’s previous comments.

Biomarkers are already used to guide treatment in other medical disciplines, such as oncology. Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Texas, and more than a dozen other states require insurers to cover such testing. Blood and imaging tests are now used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease as well.

A Future for Psychiatric Biomarkers

The APA included in its article a variety of ways psychiatric biomarkers could be used in the future — such as testing for brain activity, genetic profiles, or immune markers associated with certain psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia and substance use disorders.

In depression, for example, about a quarter of patients have elevated levels of an inflammatory protein, called C-reactive protein, that can be found through a blood test.

Research has shown that people with high levels of this protein seem to respond better when given drugs that alter dopamine levels in the brain, rather than using only selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, a common type of antidepressant.

C-reactive protein still needs to be “robustly validated” as a biomarker, but it’s among the most promising currently under investigation.

APA

A “coordinated, well-funded” research effort is needed to achieve such validation, the APA wrote — a tenuous prospect since the Trump administration slashed funding for research.

The National Institute of Mental Health alone had at least 128 grants, worth almost $173 million, canceled in 2025, according to a research letter in the journal JAMA. Though some grants have since been restored, researchers relying on federal money still fear their work is vulnerable to cuts.

“There’s a great need for continued, active funding of research related to mental health,” Alpert said, but scientists will have to grapple with “uncertainties of the funding landscape.”

Ripple Effects on Coverage, Costs

Health care costs tend to be higher among patients with poorly controlled mental illnesses, due to expenses like hospital visits, outpatient appointments, and prescriptions. Some research suggests biomarker testing could save money by landing on the right treatments faster and avoiding some of these costs.

One modeling study estimated that testing to look for genetic components that may influence a drug’s effectiveness could save the Canadian health system $956 million over 20 years if used among adults with major depression in British Columbia. Another study, by Spanish researchers, found that such testing reduced costs for most of the 188 participants with serious mental illness.

Whether the same would be true in the U.S. health care system is unknown. In the short term, Johns Hopkins’ Eisenberg said, an approach that uses biomarkers could raise health care spending due to the costs of testing.

Insurers may decline to cover pricey biomarker tests, It takes a while for new science to be proven safe and effective,
And once it is, insurance companies don’t cover it immediately.”

Matthew Eisenberg, Johns Hopkins

“The Beginning of a Revolution”

Some researchers have raised concerns that insurers or employers could discriminate against people whose biological profiles suggest they’re at risk of developing serious neuropsychiatric conditions.

It’s a “critical moment” to consider legislative approaches to protect patients and train clinicians about how to appropriately use these tools, said Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, a member of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics.

“I do not think that the field of psychiatry is currently ready to manage this,” he said.

The mental health system isn’t ready to “jump in with both feet,” said Andrew Miller, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine, who studies inflammation-related depression. But the APA’s embrace of biomarkers signals “the beginning of a revolution,” he said.

“This is a recognition … that what we’ve done up to this point has not been good enough,” Miller said. “And we can do better.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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This story can be republished for free (details).KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Depression

Depression is common among people who have a chronic disease such as cancer or diabetes. Fortunately, depression is treatable even if you have another medical illness or condition. Learn more about chronic disease and depression: Caring for your mental health #shareNIMH

Biomarkers in Cancer Care

Biomarker testing is a way to look for genes, proteins, and other substances (called biomarkers or tumor markers) that can provide information about cancer. Each person’s cancer has a unique pattern of biomarkers.

Some biomarkers affect how certain cancer treatments work. Biomarker testing may help you and your doctor choose a cancer treatment for you.

There are also other kinds of biomarkers that can help doctors diagnose and monitor cancer during and after treatment. To learn more, visit the Tumor Markers fact sheet.

Biomarker testing is for people who have cancer. People with solid tumors and people with blood cancer can get biomarker testing.

The FDA-approved blood tests for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease

In May 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first blood test as a tool to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. The test is called Lumipulse.

The test measures certain proteins, including a specific form of the tau protein. This can indicate amyloid plaques in the brain, a protein that is considered the hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

This blood test, along with other diagnostic tools can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. While the blood test can detect changes even before memory problems begin, it is only recommended for use in people showing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

The test is still being refined and can’t diagnose Alzheimer’s disease on its own. 

What to Remember from this Post

I learned from the KFF article and the references, did you? What are your takeaways from what you read? Here are some to consider.

  • Doctors use laboratory tests and imaging to supplement information gleaned from talking to and examining patients.
  • Biomarkers for common conditions make diagnosis easier and more precise, and help guide therapy.
  • Discovery of biomarkers for other serious conditions will help patients get earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment. More research is needed.
  • New medical discoveries introduce trade-offs in cost, payment, benefit, and potential misuse.

How will you use what you’ve learned? How may you apply this information to a current or future health concern?

What more information do you need and where will you find it?

a stethoscope, a red heart and a heart ekg tracing
exploring the HEART of HEALTH

Exploring the HEART of Health

I appreciate your time reading this post and invite you to follow this blog and me on social media.

I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Use this search box for related posts on this blog or other topics of interest to you.

Dr. Aletha