Traumatic stress, life events, and emotional support in women with metastatic breast cancer: Cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms associated withpast and current stressors

This study examined levels of intrusion and avoidance symptoms and their re lationships to past life stress, current emotional support, disease-related variables, and age in 125 women with metastatic breast cancer. The results indicate that a sizable proportion of these women experienced clinically s ignificant levels of intrusion and avoidance symptoms related to their canc er, particularly those with both more stressful past life events and higher current levels of aversive emotional support. Additionally, both types of symptoms were associated with shorter time since recurrence, and avoidance symptoms were associated with smaller emotional support networks. These res ults indicate that metastatic breast cancer is an emotionally traumatic eve nt for a significant proportion of women, particularly those with past life stressors and unsupportive social environments.