Is crying a form of therapy?

"Thank you, Head Nurse Liu! Thank you to every angel in white in the Department of Gynecological Oncology in Ward 109! I believe that with your care and meticulous nursing, we will be able to defeat the disease and welcome the dawn of life!" A few days ago, a heartfelt thank-you letter was sent to Chief Nurse Liu Lagen of the Department of Gynecological Oncology at Jiangsu Cancer Hospital (Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University).

The person who wrote the letter is Ms. Cui. She said that she never thought that "crying" could be a form of therapy. The person who taught her to cry was head nurse Liu Lagen. She was particularly grateful to this benefactor.

“After crying, I feel relaxed all over.”

Last November, Ms. Cui was diagnosed with mid-to-late stage ovarian cancer. The recovery period after surgery was long and painful for Ms. Cui, and the complication of intestinal obstruction tortured her unbearably. "Those days were really hard to endure."

Ms. Cui told the reporter that she once revealed in a chat with head nurse Liu: "I have been hospitalized for a month and have never cried." She thought the head nurse would praise her for being strong, but she said: "You don't have to be so strong. Excessive suppression of emotions is harmful to your body and mind. Cry it out when you need to." The head nurse's psychological counseling gave Ms. Cui an outlet for her negative emotions. "The next day, I finally found a reason to cry, and the tears that had been blocked in my heart for a month burst out. It was so refreshing and relaxing!"

Liu Lagen said: "Patients need an outlet for their emotions, which is conducive to recovery, so when patients want to cry, I will accompany them, hand them tissues, hug them or pat their shoulders, and tell them that it's okay to cry for a while." She believes that everyone has the right to express vulnerability, and that venting emotions does not mean venting emotions. Reasonable expression of emotions can reduce the patient's psychological pressure and reduce the patient's pain during the treatment process.

Positive emotions are good medicine

Studies have shown that patients' emotional regulation, positive coping and self-efficacy are important factors affecting cancer patients' post-traumatic recovery, and positive emotions play a positive role in the treatment of cancer patients. "Generally speaking, cancer patients usually go through four psychological stages," Liu Lagen said. In the first stage, patients tend to deny and refuse to accept that they have cancer. In the second stage, patients gradually accept the fact that they are ill, but often experience uncontrollable anger.

or anxious emotions; in the third stage, after diagnosis or during treatment, the patient will experience low mood or even depression; in the fourth stage, after a series of examinations and treatments, the patient slowly enters the acceptance and adaptation period, and the mood gradually stabilizes.

Zhao Yun, deputy director of the Nursing Department of Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, believes that these four stages are not completely separate. The patient's emotions will fluctuate during the treatment process, and it is necessary to strengthen the patient's psychological construction at this time.

Zhao Yun said that emotions have many impacts on patients. If patients are in a relatively depressed state for a long time, it will have adverse effects on the body's functions and status, especially some diseases affected by hormones, such as breast cancer, which are more obviously related to emotions. In addition, negative emotions will also affect the immune function of the entire body, which is not conducive to the treatment and recovery of cancer patients.

How to relieve the negative emotions of cancer patients?

In addition to "crying", what other ways can cancer patients relieve their negative emotions? Zhao Yun believes that it depends on the individual and the time.

First of all, the hospital will provide patients with professional psychological intervention and timely guide patients' negative emotions. It is reported that the medical staff of the Provincial Cancer Hospital will timely evaluate the patient's psychological state through professional scales and provide targeted psychological counseling for patients. In addition, the hospital has also set up a special psychology team that can use cognitive therapy, narrative nursing and other methods to provide patients with more professional psychological care.

Secondly, the patient's self-emotional regulation is also an important part of cancer recovery. Liu Lagen said, "Patients can vent their negative emotions by crying or talking to others, and can also do appropriate exercise to improve their mood, but they should do it moderately within their physical strength." In addition, she also encourages patients to stick to their hobbies or do some housework within their ability to enhance their self-worth and confidence.

Finally, during the stay-at-home period, the family needs to strengthen the psychological support of the patient and work hard to eliminate the patient's sense of shame. The family's psychological support is a continuation of the hospital's psychological treatment. The attitude of family members towards the patient will directly affect the patient's mood, psychological state and treatment effect. Therefore, family members should try their best to understand the patient's low mood, give them enough patience and companionship, and encourage patients to exercise appropriately to help them return to normal life better.