Study highlights need for timely psychological support for cancer-afflicted kids

At first, we were focused only on the chemotherapy," recalled Lakshmi (name changed), the mother of a 9-year-old leukaemia survivor.

- 

"But then my son started having nightmares, began dreading the hospital, and was scared of the treatment." She shared that it wasn’t the medicines alone that brought him back—it was the counselling sessions. “He began to laugh again, talk about his fears, and now he's back in school. The physiological therapy we received saved our family.”

Lakshmi's child was fortunate to get the right psychosocial help at the right time. A recent study titled 'Psychosocial issues faced by children with cancer: Lessons learnt from a tertiary care centre in South India' conducted at the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, has shed light on the significant yet often overlooked psychosocial issues faced by children with cancer.