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Medicine and Health Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2020

Cancer

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Mental and Social Health

Lesley University

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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Exploring The Experience Of Psychological Distress For Young Adults With Cancer: Implications For A New Diagnosis Of Medical Traumatic Stress, Audrey Ryan May 2020

Exploring The Experience Of Psychological Distress For Young Adults With Cancer: Implications For A New Diagnosis Of Medical Traumatic Stress, Audrey Ryan

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how a serious medical diagnosis, such as cancer, can act as an acute or prolonged trauma. This was explored through the lived experiences of psychological distress of young cancer survivors. Participants were 12 men and women who had been diagnosed with cancer within the past seven years when they were between the ages of 18 and 39. From these interviews several themes emerged that describe the phenomenon of what I have termed medical traumatic stress.

Trauma from a medical event does not currently meet criteria for PTSD in the DSM-5 …