Cancer can take a toll on a kid鈥檚 physical health, but there are psychological effects, too. Many survivors experience anxiety, while some suffer from post-traumatic stress.
Dr. Shannon Poppito is a psycho-oncologist who works with patients who鈥檝e recovered from cancer at Baylor鈥檚 Sammons Cancer Center. Poppito says children often experience cancer differently than adults and teens.
Poppito talked with 四虎影院鈥檚 Lauren Silverman about children and cancer., a 四虎影院 Breakthroughs series that follows the journey of a North Texas boy, Jude Cobler, after his leukemia diagnosis.
-- there are stories and radio pieces, as well as videos and photos of Jude and his family. And there are preview videos of Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, a documentary that will air on 四虎影院-TV starting March 30.
Interview Highlights: Dr. Poppito 鈥�
鈥� on kids being hypervigilant
鈥淔our- and 5-year-olds are not going to take up cancer the same way as a 7, 8, 9 10-year-old,鈥� Poppito said. 鈥淏ecause the developmental shifts that are occurring in their bodies, in their brains, are shifting. These little kiddos, they鈥檙e just exploring the world for the first time. They鈥檒l understand cancer as not feeling very well and not being happy that they can鈥檛 go out to play. 鈥� But they look to their parents 鈥� if they鈥檙e angry, if they鈥檙e sad, if they鈥檙e nervous. They take on whatever the parents are experiencing of their cancer.鈥�
鈥淭here is something about having cancer that is ever present in your mind, that once you鈥檝e overcome the cancer, you want to make sure you are doing everything in your power,鈥� Poppito said. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 this hypervigilance, this control to make sure that you鈥檙e doing everything to take care of yourself. Parents should just be aware of if the fears of contamination start affecting a child鈥檚 functioning. Preemptively, perhaps, have a child go see a psychologist 鈥� because, as a psycho-oncologist, I see patients that struggled with cancer at 5 years old that will come to me in their 20s having not worked through these fears of contamination and now it has become debilitating, and now they struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder or they struggle with issues that were left unattended.鈥�
鈥� on teenagers and cancer
鈥淭eenagers will experience cancer, maybe some similarities to an 8 or 10-year-old, but different in the fact that stress will trigger a stress hormone called cortisol,鈥� Poppito says. 鈥淐ortisol then, working together with estrogen, which females are having course through their bodies as a teenager, will spike this traumatic stress even more. On top of that, we have identity issues. So she鈥檚 trying to find her own sense of identity in the world. All of these bio-psycho-social underpinnings will impact how cancer develops this post-traumatic stress in the body, the mind and the spirit of a teenager.鈥�
鈥� on kids and resiliency
鈥淲hat I want to underscore is not only the post-traumatic stress, but also the post-traumatic growth that occurs in patients who have cancer, especially in teen years. They鈥檝e learned a sense of resiliency, a sense of overcoming, their sense of identity becomes stronger. 鈥� I don鈥檛 think we have enough literature out there on post-traumatic growth -- that you can learn something from the cancer you can learn how to make it meaningful and purposeful.鈥�
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