The Real Health Podcast: Navigating the thoughts, fears and emotions that come with a cancer diagnosis with Psychiatrist Professor Anne-Marie O’Dwyer

Anne Marie O'Dwyer

How do you deal with the mental side of a cancer diagnosis? How does one cope? And what’s the best psychological response to the disease?

Joining me on the Real Health podcast this week is author of a new book titled ‘The Cancer Guide,’ clinical professor at Trinity College Dublin and psychiatrist, Professor Anne-Marie O’Dwyer.

Professor O’Dwyer started the conversation by telling me that people’s response to cancer is generally one of fear and terror and that is completely normal. She said patients will say to her, “if only I had known, if only I had known that actually it's very normal to be terrified, overwhelmed, angry, grief stricken. I wish that I had known that this is a normal response because lots of people hide their responses.”

The psychiatrist introduced me to a number of myths about cancer that she expands upon in the book. She told me that the myth of ‘I must be positive all the time,’ is one of the most popular ones. “It's just not possible. And it's particularly not possible if you've got cancer. And the problem with that particular myth is then if they're not positive, they're saying to me, ‘Oh, God, I'm very anxious today. I'm very upset. Oh, that's terrible. That's going to make my cancer worse,” she said.

Professor O’Dwyer explained to me that it's very important for the listener to know, is that no two types of cancer are the same. She highlighted that, “No two cancers are the same, breast cancer is very different from bowel cancer. So, each of the cancer types is different. Everybody is different and people's responses are different.”