Üsküdar University Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, in his statement on the occasion of Cancer Week, evaluated the importance of psychological well-being and spiritual guidance in cancer treatment.
Emphasizing the importance of morale and psychological resilience in diseases with a difficult treatment process such as cancer, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said that if people find something to make their life meaningful, they can better cope with their illness.
Emphasizing that the need for consolation and the need for meaning-seeking are highest during the severe illness period, Tarhan said, “In such periods, the old approach was 'fight with illness and death'. It is suffering when a person struggles with things that he cannot control, that he cannot control. In the new scientific approach, it is recommended to walk with the disease.” said.
Stating that morale is very important in cancer, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “Cancer is considered to be the most feared disease group among many chronic diseases. Among the chronic diseases, there are pancreatic disease, COPD, chronic lung respiratory failure disease, kidney diseases requiring dialysis. There are many new methods and developments regarding the treatment of these diseases. In some diseases, the meaning attributed to the disease that people know can be improved with a standard surgery is different, but the meaning attributed to cancer is very different from the meaning attributed to COPD or kidney disease." he said.
Stating that cancer is more associated with death than other diseases, and this situation negatively affects the mental health of the patient, Tarhan said, “These diseases remind more people of death and the inability to resist. People think that they will lose many comforts of life, they will lose their physical comfort. The quality of life of the patients deteriorates greatly. These diseases affect mental health very negatively.” used the phrase.
Noting that not only the parts that look like life but also the invisible ones are questioned about chronic death and the end of life, Tarhan said, “This is a situation related to the search for meaning, which is found only in humans and distinguishes humans from other living things. It's about the supermind genes that cause the search for meaning in humans. There is no search for meaning in any other living thing. When you look at the dream world of a dog, there is a bone, but the meaning world of a person is different for everyone and it changes according to each person. he said.
Emphasizing that the need for psychological well-being increases more in chronic diseases and severe diseases, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, “The moral power that moves people is the power of spirituality. When he takes away his life energy, the motivation of the person decreases. The ability to act on oneself also decreases. Morale and motivation are important for him.” said.