Rumination, Fatigue and Psychological Resilience in Cancer Experience

Abstract

Cancer is a very common disorder that can affect individuals cognitively, emotionally, physically and socially. It can cause negative ruminative thoughts among individuals by affecting the thinking system since the diagnosis and these thoughts may result in various psychosocial problems. If the negative ruminative thoughts are not able to manage effectively through the process, individuals having cancer can experience fatigue. This process can be defined as cancer-related fatigue, it can not only affect the disease process but also affect the remission process. By the way, resilience which is described as the power to overcome negative experiences leads to a focus on positive ruminative thoughts. In this way, individuals can find positive outcomes such as restructuring the traumatic life experience, adaptation to disease process, and even gaining resilience, etc. The aim of this article is to explain the concepts of rumination, cancer-related fatigue, and psychological resilience and to reveal possible effects on the cancer process.

Keywords

• cancer
• fatigue
• psychological resilience
• rumination