Cancer patients commonly experience psychological distress that may increase with the current COVID-19 pandemic. This prospective study aimed to measure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety in cancer patients following France’s first COVID-19-related lockdown, together with associated factors. Cancer patients receiving outpatient treatment or post-treatment follow-up completed a questionnaire which measured, among other things, PTSD (IES-R), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). Of the 1097 patients included in the study, 14.7% and 30.5% suffered from PTSD and anxiety, respectively. Patients afraid to come to hospital due to the risk of COVID-19 transmission (OR = 3.49, p < 0.001), those with a negative lockdown experience (OR = 0.98, p < 0.001), women (OR = 1.97; p = 0.009), and patients living alone (OR = 1.63, p = 0.045) were all more likely to have PTSD. Older patients (OR = 1.65, p = 0.020), women (OR = 1.62, p = 0.018), those with a higher FCR score (OR = 5.02, p < 0.001), patients unsatisfied with their cancer management (OR = 2.36, p < 0.001), and those afraid to come to hospital due to COVID-19 (OR = 2.43, p < 0.001) all had a higher risk of anxiety. These results provide a greater understanding of the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in cancer patients and highlight the need to better integrate psychosocial support in pandemic response measures in order to guide health systems.

La question du moral ne manque jamais de se profiler dès que l’on évoque la maladie cancéreuse. Les arguties belliqueuses tout autant. Avoir le moral, se battre : le combat contre la maladie, représentation vieille comme le monde, mais remise au goût du jour des neurosciences et des techniques de développement personnel, renouvelle les formes subtiles du pouvoir de l’esprit. L’article permet le décodage et la déconstruction de ladite « valeur », postulée comme essentielle. The question of morale never fails to emerge as soon as one evokes the cancerous disease and the bellicose quibbles just as much. To be in high spirits, to fight: fighting with disease, representation as old as the world but brought back to the taste of the day of the neurosciences and techniques of personal development, renews the subtle forms of the power of the spirit. Decoding and deconstruction of this so-called “value”, postulated as essential is the aim of this article.

Le cancer emporte irrémédiablement – entendez-vous « diable » ici ? – le sujet qui en est atteint, son médecin et les psychistes qui peuvent l’accompagner, dans des contrées inexplorées, des sous-sols, des mondes parallèles, en autant d’invitations au voyage et à la rêverie. Toute rencontre avec un malade nous transporte dans une lecture qui génère en nous des faisceaux associatifs, formés de sensations, d’émotions, d’images… La question de la guérison du cancer est ainsi ouverte ici sur l’expérience interne qu’elle sollicite, pour les uns et les autres et ce en quoi elle peut être partageable.