Cancer Support Groups Keep You Informed

by Editorial Board on March 18, 2011 · 0 comments

in Malignant Cancer,Living with a Disability

Cancer support groups provide excellent opportunity to share your thoughts with others going through similar experiences. The sociological structure of these cancer support groups is similar to other kinds of support groups. Cancer is a common cause of disability and these support groups are of real help and provide valuable information about living with cancer, its treatment, and issues related to disability benefits from social security or long-term disability carriers.

Coping with the physical, medical, and psychological challenges associated with cancer requires immense support.  A cancer patient may face depression, anxious worries, and persistent concerns related to their disease and its consequences.  This is why counseling is commonly a vital element within a cancer patient’s therapeutic plan.

Cancer support groups can be seen as providing a type of group peer to peer counseling in which cancer patients share information about living with cancer. There is a growing number of such support groups dedicated to people with a particular type of cancer. For example, there are number of support groups dedicated for women with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or men’s groups around colon or testicular cancer.

A common issue faced by any cancer patient who is disabled by their condition is to learn about their rights to collect Social Security Disability benefits. Learning all the rules of the disability program is complicated, but support groups can help you learn what is most important for you.  Getting right to what is important for people like you is where a cancer support group can be of great help. In these groups you will have a good chance of finding several patients with a similar type of cancer who have a varied level of abilities following their treatment.  For the ones that are disabled by their condition some may be filing for Social Security Disability benefits or some may already be on disability. Visitors to support group meetings will learn a lot from a variety of insider perspectives.

Cancer presents many challenges and nobody should go through all of that alone.  In support groups no one goes through it alone, the groups are comprised of a significant number of people going through similar experiences. Different groups meet in different ways, some are now online, some are in person meetings, and some are phone conference type meetings.  Most members agree that you can get a lot out of being in a support group.

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