ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the varied presentation of depression in cancer patients. The transdiagnostic model for formulating cancer-related depression led to a description of a full spectrum of interventions available to the clinician. Just learning the function and cost of rumination may be enough for some cancer patients to pull their awareness, and their behavior, into other, more freely chosen, activities. In addition, anchoring self in the present moment, with awareness of the non-cancer elements of the present moment, can also help access self-soothing states, and potentially downregulate an ongoing state of intense distress arousal, with its attendant negative impact on emotional and physical health. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) helps the depressed cancer patient engage through behavior, not just through changing one's thoughts or appraisals. Two empirically supported therapies form bedrock for action strategies in working with depressed cancer patients: Behavioral Activation and Problem-Solving Therapy.
