| BARCELONA
(Reuters) - Children whose parents have cancer
often suffer post-traumatic stress symptoms
that adults underestimate, Dutch researchers
said on Wednesday.
The study, which the researchers said was the
first to track post traumatic stress symptoms
in adolescents over an extended period of time,
found many children of cancer patients suffered
telltale signs of the disorder.
These symptoms included recurring nightmares,
an inability to stop thinking about the disease
as well as conscious efforts to avoid hearing
or knowing anything about their parent's condition,
they told the European Cancer Conference.
"We thought the symptoms would decline
after time but even after one to five years
after the diagnosis, the children still had
symptoms," said Gea Huizinga, a health
scientist at the University Medical Centre in
Groningen, who led the study.
Experts say post traumatic stress disorder
symptoms include irritability or outbursts of
anger, sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating,
extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle
response. A person may initially respond to
the trauma with horror or helplessness, then
may persistently relive the event.
The recently completed study did not actually
test whether children had the disorder but rather
looked for symptoms of PTSD in 49 youths aged
11 to 18 years old starting during the first
year after a parent's cancer diagnosis.
After first learning a parent had cancer, 29
percent of the children showed post traumatic
stress symptoms serious enough to justify psychological
help, the researchers said.
This number dropped by the end of the first
year as kids seemed to adjust to the fact a
parent had cancer, especially if the parent's
health improved, Huizinga said.
But surprisingly, as time wore on, another
group of children started showing an increase
of symptoms, perhaps due to the cancer returning
or having the time to think more -- and fret
-- about the disease, she added.
"We thought the symptoms would decline
over time," Huizinga said.
The study also found that girls seemed to have
the most problems, perhaps because these children
may feel responsible for taking on more duties
at home with a sick parent, Huizinga said.
The team also suggested that the effect on
children whose parents have cancer was bigger
than many serious, chronic diseases because
dying from cancer was so possible.
"We think cancer may have more impact
because a parent might die of the disease,"
Huizinga said. "With a lot of chronic diseases
that is often not the case."
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