The diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer can be emotionally devastating to children and families as a whole. Despite an improved prognosis over the last few decades, the course of cancer treatment has a tremendous impact on children. Thanks to advances in treatment, many forms of childhood cancers are now curable with a significant increase in survival rate from a mere 10 per cent a few decades ago to nearly 90 per cent today. The increased survival rate has brought to fore the long-term negative effects of cancer and the subsequent treatments such as chemo that extend beyond physical problems like hair loss, pain and physical disability.
Childhood cancer can have effects similar to ‘chemo brain’ in adults causing problems with attention, memory & language and also leading to depression and anxiety in children. Studies have shown that the treatments that are needed to save children’s lives can also be harmful to neural development.
Impact on mental health
Cancer and its treatment are not the only factors to be considered as the damaging effects of the disease go way beyond. The word cancer is enough to bring about stress and anxiety to families as they are faced with the tremendous burden of understanding the disease and facing the possibility of the child’s death at a young age.
Families face an uphill task as they adjust to the new normal that includes overwhelming medical bills, regular hospital visits and an uncertain future besides painful medical procedures. Childhood cancers are more aggressive than adult cancers and need more intensive treatment which means the side effects of treatment —nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea and hair loss, can also be more severe. The transition to survivorship further brings with it a new set of challenges for families and children alike as they readjust to their surroundings at home and family life and children re-enter school and social settings. Children may be faced with attention and memory problems along with other physical limitations. Also, they would be living under the constant fear of relapse which always keeps the families on guard. The impact of childhood cancer is thus not limited to the effects of cancer treatments on brain development but goes way beyond as a stressful and potentially traumatic experience.
Studies show that the developing nervous system is significantly altered with stress and trauma experienced during childhood. Changes in neural development may remain for a lifetime and increase the risk for a range of physical and mental health problems throughout the lifespan.
Way forward
Childhood cancer must be recognised as a physical as well as a mental disease and all efforts should be made to help families cope with these stressful experiences during treatment. However, strained for time and resources, hospitals often lag behind in offering psychological support from social workers, childlife advocates or therapists for patients and their families. Moreover, any minimal support received from hospitals drops off to a great extent after the completion of treatment which leaves families with few resources to deal with the new set of challenges of adjusting to normal life. Therefore, the need of the hour is to advocate for psychological support as a standard of care for childhood cancer in addition to pushing for cures for cancer. This means the families must be assisted by social workers, therapists and childlife advocates at every step of their journey to fight cancer physically and mentally as well.