Cancer causes Anxiety

The emotional burden of living with a progressive, life-altering illness exists independently of any treatment regimen. A diagnosis immediately disrupts a person’s sense of predictability and control over their own life and body. This often triggers profound existential questioning regarding mortality, identity, and purpose.

Even before treatment begins, the period of waiting for scans, staging, and prognoses induces high-intensity anxiety. This frequently manifests as hypervigilance, where every minor body sensation is interpreted as a sign of the cancer spreading.

Patients often experience a form of mourning before an actual loss occurs—grieving the immediate loss of their healthy self, future plans, financial stability, and changes in their roles within their family or workplace.

In some cases, emotional changes are biological rather than psychological. For instance, tumours in the brain or central nervous system can directly alter personality, impulse control, and mood regulation. Similarly, certain neuroendocrine tumours secrete hormones that can induce sudden panic attacks, severe anxiety, or depression.

Feeling anxious is a natural reaction when people have or have had cancer. It may come and go depending on what is happening at the time.

Symptoms of anxiety include:

• racing thoughts
• finding it hard to concentrate
• feeling irritable, jumpy or restless
• sleep problems
• changes in appetite
• a constant feeling of dread or panic
• feeling like you are not connected to things happening to you or around you (dissociation).

When people living with cancer are anxious, they may also notice physical symptoms such as:

• breathing quickly or heavily
• feeling faint, dizzy or shaky
• feeling hot and sweaty
• a dry mouth
• feeling very tired
• a tummy ache and feeling sick.

If someone is anxious then other people telling them that everything will be okay can make their anxiety worse. They may feel that the person trying to reassure them is not listening, or they do not understand their worries.

Anxiety can lead to a panic attack. A panic attack is a sudden feeling of intense panic or fear. It causes mental and physical symptoms. They can evoke very strong and unpleasant feelings.

It is natural to feel panic or fear in a stressful or dangerous situation. However, a panic attack may happen for no obvious reason. Symptoms can include:

• a pounding or racing heartbeat
• feeling very hot or cold
• sweating or shaking
• feeling sick (nausea) or needing the toilet
• feeling faint, dizzy or lightheaded
• feeling unable to breathe properly
• chest or stomach pains
• numbness, pins and needles, or ringing in their ears
• feeling like they are not connected to their body.