Childhood cancer and PTSD

People who survived having cancer as a child could still end up suffering psychological trauma years later. Dr Margaret Stuber from the Jonsson Cancer Center studied 6,542 people who had, as children, undergone cancer treatment between 1970 and 1986. Some of the subjects reported extreme anxiety, feeling on edge, becoming easily startled, developing phobias and avoiding things that might trigger memories of having cancer - all symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the study pointed out that treatments for cancer are much less traumatic these days so that these problems should not occur as much in future.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/05/03/cancer-survivors-likely-to-develop-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/13452.html