CSA and breast cancer

TillsMont

Hi - is/has there been any discussion on here about people with history of CSA and now needing/having Breast Cancer treatment - thanks 

AllyJay

Can you clarify what the CSA is? Is it Chronic Sleep Apnea? Chronic Stable Angina? Cardiac Sympathetic Activity? Not too sure...

TillsMont

Child Sexual Assault/Abuse

AllyJay

Hi again @TillsMont...I don't recall any specific discussions in the general forum as these pages are open to the general public visiting the site. Only members can comment, but anybody else can log in and have a read. Private messages between members are private and can only be read by the person it was sent to, so perhaps ask if there are any members who might be able to discuss this with you as a private message?

Cath62

Hi @TillsMont , I have not experienced CSA however I do believe trauma impacts the body greatly regardless of when that trauma happens. I have experienced trauma and have a number of health issues including bc. There are a few books on trauma and disease. One worth reading is When the Body Says No by Gabot Matte and Patrea King has written a few books but her book Your Life Matters is really helpful. Happy to chat via private email if you like. There have also been lots of posts on stress and breast cancer so you could search on that topic too. There have been plenty members who can relate long term stress and trauma to their bc.  Hugs to you 💐

Afraser

Abstract

Objective: The present study investigated relations between reported childhood abuse and recent traumatic stress symptoms in women newly diagnosed with breast cancer (n=330).

Methods: As part of a larger ongoing study, patients from eight public and private hospitals were referred by their physicians and completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and the Impact of Events Scale-breast cancer (IES), which measured breast cancer-related intrusive and avoidant symptoms.

Results: Emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse were correlated with intrusive symptoms. Cancer-related avoidant symptoms approached significance in their relation to emotional and sexual abuse. Multivariate analysis, controlling for age and time since diagnosis, revealed that childhood emotional abuse was an independent predictor of breast cancer-related intrusive symptoms, but that childhood physical abuse and sexual abuse were not significant predictors.

Conclusions: Childhood emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were associated with breast cancer-related intrusive symptoms. Emotional abuse uniquely predicted intrusive symptoms after controlling for other predictors. Results suggest that a cancer diagnosis may trigger cognitive and emotional responses that relate to patients' prior trauma experiences.

Practice implications: Physicians and psychologists treating women with breast cancer should be aware that a history of childhood abuse may exacerbate patients' cancer-related intrusive symptoms. Interventions for women affected by both childhood abuse and breast cancer may be most effective when they address both stressors and associated emotional responses. Findings highlight the importance of additional research to explore links between prior trauma and distress following a cancer diagnosis stress.

Rachel Goldsmith et al 2010

TillsMont

Thanks all. 

Yes @AllyJay it did not occur to me that this is accessible to anyone. But people could PM.

I’m a newbie on this forum and not exactly sure how it works or if there were private groups etc
Thanks for everyone’s responses though

Mez_BCNA

Hi @TillsMont, I am glad you are getting the support from other members. I just thought I'd jump in as well and share this link regarding navigating the online community that you may find useful:

https://onlinenetwork.bcna.org.au/discussion/19190/navigating-the-online-community#latest