Roya Vaziri Harami
1 
, Anna Ghorbani
2 , Shahrzad Ghaffariyan
3 , Navid Asgari
4 , Mohammad Akbari
5 , Farideh Ranjbaran
6 , Hakimeh Karimi Aliabadi
7 , Nima Jamali
8* 1 Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Hematology-Medical Oncology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of General Medicine, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran
6 Department of Psychiatry, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
7 Department of Anesthesiology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
8 Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract
Getting diagnosed with cancer can be a tremendous stressor; it can even be recognized as an emotional trauma that can lead to several mental health problems and dysfunction in many aspects of one’s life. Recent studies demonstrated that mental health issues can affect the quality of life, compliance with cancer treatment, medication efficacy, mortality rate costs of health services, and economic loss of cancer patients. In this review study, we gathered the literature by searching the databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Google Scholar search engine was also used to make an extensive search strategy. We chose articles based on reporting the prevalence rate of mental health problems and the psychological and psychiatric problems that can influence the treatment of patients with cancer. The literature review showed that one-third of all cancer patients suffer from psychiatric disorders and psychological dysfunctions, and the most common mental disorders that can be comorbid with cancer are depression spectrum and anxiety disorders.