BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Abstract

This paper presents a brief literature review on the psychological impacts of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, which is one of the types of tumors that most affect women in Brazil today and has well-established genetic, hormonal, and environmental risk factors. This study was conducted based on readings of articles and books related to this topic from August 2024 to April 2025, in which 20 articles were selected, 13 of which were used for this sample. The methodology used consists of a literature review in indexed databases as a method of research verification, review of the reading, and critical analysis of the bibliography involved: Lakatos and Marconi (2003), Duncan (2004), Freud (2014), Pinto (2011), Pina and Franco (2022), with the addition of other readings: journal articles and monographs in the database: SCIELO, Virtual Health Library, Ministry of Health. For the analysis of the results, there were a total of 20 articles and, after applying the exclusion criteria, 12 articles resulted as a sample for this review, found in electronic databases and published in Portuguese. The objective of this study is to identify the psychological impacts of women facing the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, describing the feelings experienced when facing a breast cancer diagnosis. It concludes that knowledge about breast cancer is important, as fear of death and lack of information hinder treatment, early diagnosis and cure.