The Psychological Effects of Breast Cancer and Reconstruction

A discussion of a patient's postmastectomy drawings and creative writing sheds some light on one woman's personal battle with breast carcinoma, from diagnosis through breast reconstruction.

Abstract

One in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer. Nationally, it is estimated that about 200,000 women in the United States are diagnosed annually, and approximately 40,000 women die from the disease each year. A diagnosis of breast cancer forces women to consider living without their gender-defining curves, reevaluate their lives, and live with a 1 in 33 possibility of their mortality. Although medical science has made advances in the treatment of breast carcinoma and breast reconstruction, it currently does not adequately address the psychological effects that this disease and its treatment have on its patients. This discussion of a patient's postmastectomy drawings and creative writing sheds some light on one woman's personal battle with breast carcinoma, from diagnosis through breast reconstruction.