Concerns, confiding and psychiatric disorder in newly diagnosed cancer patients: A descriptive study

Abstract A total of 520 patients were assessed by trained interviewers within 8 weeks of a cancer diagnosis. A semi‐structured interview, the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule, a checklist of concerns and assessment of degree of confiding of concerns in others were used to determine the relationship between concerns, confiding and affective disorder. The most common concerns were the illness itself (65%), inability to do things (36%), the future (31%) and physical symptoms (28%). Concerns about the illness itself, the future, job, finances and personal relationships were distributed evenly across disease groups. Concerns about sexuality, feeling upset or feeling different from other people were related to cancer type. Patients with these concerns or who had four or more concerns had significantly more anxiety or depression. No relationship was found between degree of confiding and psychological morbidity. The nature and number of concerns could be useful markers for those with affective disorders and a focus for psychological and/or psychiatric intervention in the cancer population.