2023 Volume 35 Issue 1 Pages 41-48
In recent years, mental disorders in cancer patients have become an important theme of general hospital psychiatry. In particular, breast cancer presents with mental disorders due to long-term treatment periods and/or the reaction of hormonal therapy. We report a case of postoperative mood disorder after breast cancer diagnosis that lasted several years and obtained consent to describe the course of treatment including life events during that period. In this case report, we summarized the changes in mood and drug therapy over time, and considered the psychological impacts of life events, including loss due to the death of the patient’s father, which was also from cancer, and separation because of the marriage of patient’s son. During the psychotherapy process some interesting dreams were reported. Through these processes we considered the significance of psychotherapy in the field of palliative care. In this case, the patient’s mood disorder was a real-life illness. However, spiritually, it was evaluated as a process of suffering as the patient was raised by a protective father, became an independent being, and then witnessed the death of her father. For cancer patients who realize that death is inevitable, it is important for them to review their lives and look for significance. The purpose of psychotherapy in the field of palliative care is to provide support that brings the patient’s individual life closer to the patient’s own life. Therefore, it is necessary for therapists to be aware of their own mortality.
