– I have heard people who have said that it was terribly difficult to have cancer, but that in retrospect the worst thing was that the marriage crashed. That kind of story is the background to why we’re doing this project. There is a gap here that the healthcare system is not filling, says Lisa Ljungman, who is a lay psychologist, associate professor in medical psychology and responsible researcher for the study at Uppsala University.
“Entered into each world”
When Anna Månsson was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and her husband Robert went through a tough period. They have two children together and at the time of the illness notification in 2021, son Axel was eleven months old and daughter Sofia two and a half years old.
– We kind of entered each other’s world. I was sick and dealing with all the stuff with the hospital and the treatment. My husband had to take on much greater responsibility at home with the children, enrolling in preschool and he also worked. We lived in the same house, although we almost had our own lives, she says.
Emotionally focused couples therapy
Within the framework of the study, cancer patients and their partners receive ten therapy sessions via link with so-called emotionally focused couple therapy. The hope is that it will improve both the individual’s well-being and the couple’s relationship during an ongoing cancer treatment.
Anna Månsson believes that it would have been of great help to her and Robert.
– I think it would have given us an opportunity to jointly process the disease and our new life situation. Being invited to a joint treatment would have been so valuable, because there was so much focus on me and my well-being and then it becomes easy for the other person to feel neglected, she says.
Manage emotions
Lisa Ljungman hopes that the study will be able to help couples with exactly what Anna Månsson describes – to find a common ground, talk openly, break negative patterns in the relationship and get help dealing with both their own and the other’s feelings.
Right now ten couples are trying the treatment and in the next stage of the study there will be 60 couples. The hope is that in the long term it will be able to be offered in all cancer care if it proves to work well.
– Being affected by cancer is such a difficult thing, it is among the most difficult things you can be a part of. So that you have a support around you that works during that time is so extremely important and especially for the partner. Because it is usually the most important person for a person who becomes seriously ill, says Lisa Ljungman.
Held together
Today, Anna is cancer-free and the children have reached the age of four and five. She and Robert stayed together despite radiation treatments, a pandemic and the everyday life of small children.
– We have persevered in some way and are fighting on. Patience and time have been important. Besides, I still think we’ve been pretty good at cultivating our common interests, and I think that’s a big reason why we stick together, says Anna.
The study is expected to be completed in two years and after that the results will be evaluated.
– I think that couples therapy can be an important piece of the puzzle in the psychosocial care of cancer patients where the healthcare is actually lacking as it looks today.