Social Anxiety After Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer

头颈癌治疗后的社交焦虑

• 批准号: 6907558
• 负责人: KIRSTEN L HAMAN
• 金额: $ 7.59万
• 依托单位: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-04-01 至 2007-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6907558
• 关键词: adult human (21+); anxiety; anxiety disorders; avoidance behavior; behavioral /social science research tag; body image; body physical characteristic; clinical research; depression; disease /disorder proneness /risk; functional ability; head /neck neoplasm; human subject; lung neoplasms; mental disorder diagnosis; mental health epidemiology; neoplasm /cancer chemotherapy; neoplasm /cancer radiation therapy; neoplasm /cancer surgery; postoperative state; psychological aspect of cancer; psychopathology; quality of life; social behavior; substance abuse related disorder; adult human (21+); anxiety; anxiety disorders; avoidance behavior; behavioral /social science research tag; body image; body physical characteristic; clinical research; depression; disease /disorder proneness /risk; functional ability; head /neck neoplasm; human subject; lung neoplasms; mental disorder diagnosis; mental health epidemiology; neoplasm /cancer chemotherapy; neoplasm /cancer radiation therapy; neoplasm /cancer surgery; postoperative state; psychological aspect of cancer; psychopathology; quality of life; social behavior; substance abuse related disorder

People surviving head and neck cancer (HNC) face many obstacles to good quality of life. One such obstacle is social avoidance. After treatment, people with HNC report avoiding activities like social events, and may have difficulty returning to work or engaging in everyday activities like dining out or seeing friends. However, the reasons for this avoidance are unknown. Because of the location of their tumors, people with HNC commonly receive treatments that alter their appearance and communication ability. One possible reason for social avoidance may be that HNC patients develop symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder, a debilitating condition marked by disruptive fear and anxiety about being embarrassed or rejected by other people, as a result of their disfiguring treatment. Another possibility is that only those HNC patients with a pre-cancer history of social anxiety actually develop social avoidance post-treatment. A third possibility is that HNC patients avoid social situations for reasons that have little to do with anxiety (perhaps because of fatigue, loss of interest, or need to stay away from germs). We propose to:,1) use well-established diagnostic tools and clinical interviews to investigate the relationship between anxiety and avoidance in a cross-sectional sample of HNC patients, divided into groups based on type of treatment (significantly impairing, like surgery, or less impairing, like chemotherapy/radiation); 2) investigate the relationship between any pre-cancer psychiatric diagnosis and post-treatment anxiety and avoidance; 3) investigate the effect of social anxiety and/or avoidance on quality of life; and 4) examine the specificity of these relationships to HNC by comparing HNC patients to lung cancer patients. We believe that a better understanding of the relation of appearance, social anxiety, avoidance, and quality of life in HNC patients will allow us to develop educational and psychotherapeutic treatment strategies to most effectively help them achieve the best possible quality of life.

幸存的头颈癌（HNC）遇到了许多障碍，使其遇到了许多障碍。这样的障碍是社会回避。治疗后，患有HNC的人报告避免了诸如社交活动之类的活动，并且可能很难重返工作岗位或从事日常活动，例如外出就餐或见到朋友。但是，这种回避的原因尚不清楚。由于肿瘤的位置，HNC患者通常会接受改变其外观和沟通能力的治疗方法。社交避免的可能原因可能是HNC患者出现社交焦虑症的症状，这是一种令人衰弱的疾病，其标志性的恐惧和焦虑因其毁容治疗而被他人尴尬或拒绝。另一种可能性是，只有那些具有社交焦虑症患者史的HNC患者才能在治疗后才会产生社会回避。第三个可能性是 HNC患者避免了社交情况，原因与焦虑无关（也许是由于疲劳，失去兴趣或需要远离细菌）。我们建议：，1）使用公认的诊断工具和临床访谈来研究HNC患者的横断面样本中焦虑与回避之间的关系，根据治疗类型（例如手术，例如手术，或更少的损害，例如化学疗法/放射线/放射线），分为组分为组； 2）研究任何癌前精神病学诊断与治疗后焦虑和回避之间的关系； 3）研究社交焦虑和/或避免对生活质量的影响； 4）通过将HNC患者与肺癌患者进行比较来检查这些关系与HNC的特异性。我们相信更好 了解HNC患者外观，社交焦虑，回避和生活质量的关系将使我们能够制定教育和心理治疗策略，以最有效地帮助他们实现最佳的生活质量。