Patrick Dempsey Notes Mental Health in Cancer Care Has ‘Changed Tremendously’ Over Past 2 Decades

The mental aspect of cancer has “changed tremendously” over the past 20 years, while treatments for the disease continue to improve. However, there is still much more work to be done, said Patrick Dempsey.

The award-winning actor, producer and cancer advocate recently delivered the keynote speech during CURE®’s 2022 Extraordinary Healer® award for oncology nursing ceremony. In an interview before the event, Dempsey sat down with CURE® to discuss strides made in the field of cancer care, as well as what the future may hold for patients with the disease.

“Hopefully we can eradicate this disease. I’m optimistic, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” Dempsey said.

Transcription

I think the mental aspect has changed tremendously — the mental wellness — not only for the nurses and the doctors, but the patients. I think that's progressed. People are talking about (mental wellbeing) a lot more, and that will help you going into your treatments if you have the right mindset.

There's a lot of good treatments that are coming out, you know, are bigger issues. Hopefully our bigger issues are going to be dealing with survivorship, and all of that.

Hopefully we can eradicate this disease. I'm optimistic. I think there's still a lot of work to do. There's a lot we need to do environmentally. There's a lot when you look at the whole society that needs to be there's a cancer there and that contributes as well.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.