Expressive Writing, What is It?

Posted May 12th, 2021

One of psychotherapy’s main beliefs is that putting thoughts and feelings into words may produce mental health benefits. Of course, this also applies to cancer patients, who face the countless psychological issues that can arise in the face of a serious illness. Participating in therapy, however, isn’t the only way to give voice to one’s internal world […]

Karen Arnold-Korzeniowski, BSN, RN

Emotions: A Side Effect of Cancer

Posted January 12th, 2018

A few weeks ago, former vice president Joe Biden was on The View. During his interview he spoke with Meghan McCain, whose father, Senator John McCain, is currently battling a glioblastoma diagnosis. Joe Biden’s son died of a glioblastoma. She began to speak about her father and began to cry. As Meghan apologized for becoming […]

Feel Those Feelings

Posted November 8th, 2017

Just about the first thing they taught us in nursing school was that, no matter what kind of unit we worked on, we would be caring for people during some of the most trying times of their lives and we should approach each shift with that in mind. When you are feeling your worst, we […]

4 Insights Into Reticent Men and Cancer

Posted August 24th, 2017

A friend of mine started dating a man six months after he was diagnosed with cancer. At the start of their relationship, he was open about his health issues. And then cancer showed up stronger, and he walled himself off. “He won’t let me give him any hands-on care,” my friend said. “And he doesn’t want […]

Bob Riter

Cancer Makes Everyone Stupider – and Smarter

Posted March 30th, 2017

A professor recently told me that he instantly became 50% stupider when his doctor told him that he had cancer. He said that his own research in his field of study is careful and thoughtful. When he learned that he had cancer, the “careful part” of his brain shut down. Rather than thinking logically about […]

Bob Riter

The Opposite of Positive Thinking is Not Negative

Posted August 5th, 2016

I often write that friends shouldn’t tell cancer patients to “be positive.” It gives the patient one more thing to worry about. “I guess bad things will happen if I’m not positive enough.” Besides, no one in recorded history has become positive because someone told them to be positive. But it’s important to understand that […]