Depression
Description
Everybody feels sad sometimes, but to be clinically depressed is not just a matter of feeling sad. A patient with cancer is diagnosed as having major depression only if certain symptoms, such as loss of pleasure or thoughts of death, are present for at least two weeks. Only a healthcare professional can accurately determine whether a patient is depressed or is simply upset because of the disease.
A note on depression and children with cancer
Few children with cancer experience depression. For many children survivors of cancer, the experience of having had cancer makes them deeper, more understanding human beings later in adulthood and old age. However, some children with cancer do experience depression, sleep problems, and relationship problems. Depression...
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