Anxiety, depression and anger in breast cancer patients compared with the general population in Shiraz, Southern Iran

ABSTRACT

Breast cancer and its treatment have specific challenges for women due to changes in sexuality, femininity, body image and maternal issues which might lead to associated psychological morbidity. In the present study, our aim was to measure depression, anxiety and anger in breast cancer patients. Our study comprised 178 breast cancer patients, most of whom were diagnosed for 1 to 5 years, compared with 400 other women randomly selected from the general population referred to Shiraz medical clinics for non-therapeutic reasons. We used depression, anxiety and anger subscales of Symptom Checklist-90 Revised [SCL-90R] questionnaire. Depression and anxiety were not significantly different between the two groups and the mean scores of anger were significantly lower in breast cancer patients than those in the general population. Higher depression and anger mean scores were found among younger patients. Education and tumor size correlated significantly with anxiety. Most of our patients had been diagnosed for more than 1 year and no patient had distant metastasis. Qualitative data showed stable family condition, religious tenets and social supports which are all among the reasons for our results: