Your mental health after cancer
Low mood, anxiety, anger, numbness and trauma responses are all common after cancer. What is expected, what needs treatment, and how to get help that is actually designed for this.
4 min read · Part of Living Well
Written by The LifeAfterward editorial team from the sources listed at the end of this page.
Not individually reviewed by a clinician. This page is written from published clinical guidance, listed in full at the end, and is general information rather than medical advice — your own team knows your case. See our editorial standards.
Last checked against its sources · Last updated · Next check due
In short
- Depression and anxiety are substantially more common after cancer than in the general population, and both are treatable.
- Some people experience trauma responses — flashbacks, avoidance of hospitals, being easily startled — which need a specific kind of therapy.
- Screening for distress is recommended in international guidance, but in practice you may need to raise it yourself.
- Cancer support centres often provide counselling, groups and courses free of charge, without a referral or a waiting list.
What this means
Being emotionally affected by cancer is not a complication — it is a normal response to something serious. The question is not whether you are affected but whether what you are experiencing is easing, and whether it is stopping you living. Persistent low mood, anxiety that dominates, or trauma responses are all specific, recognised and treatable conditions, not character failings.
What people actually experience
- Flatness and anticlimax when treatment ends, often with guilt for not feeling triumphant.
- Anxiety, particularly around scans, symptoms and appointments — see fear of recurrence.
- Anger — at the delay in diagnosis, at people who said the wrong thing, at bodies and systems and luck.
- Grief for the version of life that was interrupted, for fertility, for a body that looks or works differently.
- Numbness — feeling nothing much at all, which is often the tail end of months of coping.
- Intrusive memories or flashbacks of scans, procedures, or the moment of diagnosis, and avoidance of anything that recalls them.
- Existential shift — a changed sense of what matters, which can be disorienting even when it is positive.
When to treat it rather than wait
Worth raising with a clinician
- Low mood or loss of interest most of the day, most days, for two weeks or more.
- Anxiety that is constant rather than tied to specific events.
- Not sleeping, not eating, or losing weight without trying.
- Avoiding medical appointments, or avoiding places and people that remind you of treatment.
- Flashbacks, nightmares, or feeling permanently on edge.
- Drinking more, or using medication or drugs to cope.
- Feeling that other people would be better off without you.
What helps
- Talking therapies
- CBT, ACT and mindfulness-based programmes all have evidence in people affected by cancer. Ask for someone experienced in working with cancer where possible.
- Trauma-focused therapy
- For flashbacks, nightmares and avoidance. Trauma-focused CBT and EMDR are the standard approaches and are different from general counselling.
- Medication
- Antidepressants can be effective, and choice matters after cancer — for example, some antidepressants interact with tamoxifen. Tell whoever prescribes exactly what cancer treatment you have had.
- Peer support
- Groups for people after treatment, in person or online. Helpful for many people; if a group increases your fear, it is reasonable to leave.
- Cancer support centres
- Often provide counselling, courses, exercise and complementary therapies free of charge, without a referral. Frequently the fastest route to real support.
- Exercise
- Consistently associated with reduced anxiety and depression after cancer, and one of the few things entirely within your control.
Asking for help without minimising it
People routinely understate distress in clinic — partly out of stoicism, partly because the appointment is short and focused on the cancer. Being concrete is what gets action.
- Say how long: "for the last two months", not "sometimes".
- Say what it stops you doing: work, driving, seeing people, sleeping.
- Say what you have already tried.
- Ask directly for what you want: a referral, a review of medication, a support centre.
- Take someone with you if you are likely to play it down.
What to ask your healthcare team
- I have been feeling like this for [time] — what support is available?
- Is there a psychologist or counselling service attached to the cancer service?
- Could any of my medication or hormone therapy be affecting my mood?
- If antidepressants are an option, do any interact with my cancer treatment?
- Are there cancer support centres or groups locally you would recommend?
Save questions to My Journey so you have them in the room, or use a ready-made list.
When to seek medical advice
Contact your healthcare team if you have:
- Low mood or anxiety lasting more than two weeks, or that is stopping you functioning.
- Flashbacks, nightmares or avoidance of anything medical.
- Weight loss, not eating, or not sleeping.
- Increasing use of alcohol, medication or drugs.
Get emergency help the same day if you have:
- Thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or feeling unable to keep yourself safe — contact emergency services or a crisis line now. See urgent help.
If you are worried and unsure, contact your team anyway — they would far rather hear from you unnecessarily than late. What to do in an emergency.
Common questions
Is depression common after cancer treatment?
Depression and anxiety are both more common in people who have had cancer than in the general population, and clinical guidance recommends routine screening for them. Both respond to treatment — psychological therapy, medication, or both.
Can cancer treatment cause PTSD?
Trauma responses after cancer — intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance of hospitals, feeling constantly on edge — are recognised and can meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress. They respond to trauma-focused therapies such as trauma-focused CBT or EMDR, which are different from general counselling.
Sources
This page was written from the guidance below and checked against it on . Links are re-checked at each review — see our editorial standards.
- Journal of Clinical Oncology (2023). Management of Anxiety and Depression in Adult Survivors of Cancer: ASCO Guideline Update
- National Cancer Institute (US). Feelings and cancer
- ASCO (Cancer.Net). Survivorship
- Macmillan Cancer Support. After treatment finishes
- Cancer Research UK. Coping with cancer