Differences in emotional distress between breast tumor patients with emotional inhibition and those with emotional expression

Abstract

The differences in affective status between patients who restrain their negative emotion and those who express negative emotion after being given their breast cancer diagnosis were studied using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) at two sessions: (i) at the first visit to the outpatient surgery clinic, and (ii) immediately after being given the diagnosis of breast cancer. Eighty-seven patients completed the POMS and the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale (CECS) at the first visit to the outpatient surgery clinic at Shiga University of Medical Science Hospital. They also completed the POMS immediately after being given the diagnosis of breast cancer. Breast cancer patients who restrain their negative emotion (n = 8) were highly anxious, depressed and confused after being given the diagnosis compared to breast cancer patients who express negative emotion (n = 8). Emotional distress in benign breast tumor patients was reduced after being given the diagnosis regardless of the trend of emotional inhibition. That is, emotional distress in patients who restrain their emotions was considerably increased compared with that of patients who expressed their emotions when they were faced with a life-threatening disease. These results suggest that it may be therapeutic to advise breast cancer patients to express their negative emotion.