By Jenny Song

Coping with Denial

By Jenny Song

There are two main kinds of copers: monitors and blunters, says clinical and health psychologist Suzanne Miller, the director of the Psychosocial and Behavioral Medicine Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

Monitors are tuned in to their health and tend to worry and dwell on it if something is found to be wrong. Blunters may not pay attention to their health, but once they receive a diagnosis, they tend to quickly adopt a path of action and not second-guess their decision.

It’s important to remember that everyone has a different coping style and that there are times and places to monitor or blunt, says Miller.

She suggests that both monitors and blunters might improve their coping strategies by building time into the day to think about their cancer. “Give yourself 20 minutes a day, but the rest of the time, set a strict schedule to do and to think about other things,” she says.

“Friends, spouses and family can be very helpful,” she adds, “particularly if they pick up the slack of someone’s coping style, so that they do the monitoring for a person who can’t monitor or they help the excessive monitor blunt a little bit.”

According to Miller, some people have a tendency to think: “Oh I have cancer, well that’s what I am now. I am a cancer survivor.” But she says it’s important to see yourself “in a broader context of still being a person with a whole lot of other attributes and skills and things to offer the world.”