癌症患者的憂鬱症

Depression in Patients with Cancer

賴虹均(Hung-Chun Lai)

《腫瘤護理雜誌》 8卷1期 (2008/06) Pp. 1-11

https://doi.org/10.6880/TJON.200806_8(1).01

摘要

近半數的癌症病患合併明顯的情緒困擾，其罹患憂鬱症的風險也較一般族群顯著升高。然而這群患者的憂鬱症卻常常被忽視，一方面是病患常無意願或不知道如何主動求助，一方面是臨床照護者對憂鬱症的認知不足，誤把憂鬱症當作癌症病患的正常反應。研究顯示憂鬱症影響癌症病患的病程、生活品質、住院天數、醫囑遵從性、甚至是疾病的預後。故強化對癌症患者憂鬱症的篩檢，及早偵測及轉介適當之治療，是癌症照護的當務之急。本篇文章旨在介紹癌症患者的憂鬱症，包括臨床症狀、危險因子、診斷與篩檢、自殺危險性之評估與處理，以及目前具實證依據的治療方式。

關鍵字

癌症 ； 憂鬱症 ； 情緒困擾

並列摘要

Up to half of cancer patients have marked emotional distress. In comparison with general population, these patients have a significantly higher risk to develop depressive disorder. However, depression in patients with cancer remains under-diagnosed and under-treated. Patients either have no idea or are unwilling to seek professional help. In addition, the care providers may have misconceptions that depressive disorder was normal reactions of the cancer patients due to their deficiency of knowledge. Studies show the psychiatric comorbidity may impact the course of the cancer disease, the patient's quality of life, the length of the hospital stay, the compliance of the anticancer treatment, and even the patient prognosis. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize the screening of depression, and early assess and transfer patients for proper treatment in routine cancer care. In this article, we discussed depression in cancer patients, including clinical symptoms of depression, risk factors, screening, diagnosis, suicidal risk assessment and management, and evidence-based treatment strategies.

並列關鍵字

Cancer ； Depression ； emotional distress