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Breast cancer and psychological distress: mothers’ and daughters’ traumatic experiences

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Abstract

Goal of work

The objective of this exploratory retrospective study was to assess the effects of breast cancer diagnosis upon the psychological distress of adult breast cancer patients and their mothers, particularly mothers who experienced past trauma.

Materials and methods

Four groups of mother–daughter dyads were evaluated using self-reporting measures of psychological distress [Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)], familial support (PFS), and adjustment to cancer (MAC, IES): breast cancer patients whose mothers were Holocaust survivors (group 1), breast cancer patients with non-traumatized mothers (group 2), healthy daughters of Holocaust survivor mothers (group 3), and a control group of healthy daughters with non-traumatized mothers (group 4).

Main results

Distress levels of both mothers and daughters in group 1 were significantly higher than distress levels of mothers and daughters in the other three groups. Daughters’ distress levels in all four groups were found to be significantly related to mothers’ distress levels, with the highest correlation found in both groups of cancer patients. The factors of having a clinically distressed mother and being a second-generation daughter contributed the most to predicting the clinical distress of the daughter.

Conclusions

The outcomes imply that the mother’s traumatic past intensifies the distressing effect of cancer diagnosis upon both the patient and her mother. The findings concerning the impact of cancer diagnosis upon the patients’ non-traumatized mothers were more ambiguous. The results support the idea that in the case of breast cancer patients, a complete psychological evaluation must include not only spouses and children but also the familial background of the patient and the history of the patients’ mothers.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Winnipeg Chapter of Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sharett Institute of Oncology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, 91120, Israel

    Lea Baider & Tamar Peretz

  2. Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Gil Goldzweig

  3. Braun School of Public Health, Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    Pnina Ever-Hadani

Authors
  1. Lea Baider
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  2. Gil Goldzweig
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  3. Pnina Ever-Hadani
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  4. Tamar Peretz
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Correspondence to Lea Baider.

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Baider, L., Goldzweig, G., Ever-Hadani, P. et al. Breast cancer and psychological distress: mothers’ and daughters’ traumatic experiences. Support Care Cancer 16, 407–414 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-007-0320-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-007-0320-1

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