Caregivers and treatment structure are no longer a daily part of one's life. Patients can become fearful and anxious , develop sleep difficulties and experience reduced interest and pleasure for two to six months. This is not abnormal. Instead, it is a time of intense feelings, but also an opportunity for emotional growth. It is a time to reevaluate one's life, face one's mortality, change one's priorities, and eventually reach recovery.
Anger can be a problem if it is repressed instead of expressed.
A woman who defines herself primarily in terms of her body and appearance may now feel unattractive, mutilated, repulsive or even unclean. Guilt and shame can continue as before when the patient may have felt that the cancer was due to improper eating on her part, etc., and now may be aggravated by her feeling that the loss of a breast is not trivial, when others may present it as trivial compared to her life. Depression and Grief are both common emotions. Grief is felt in relationship to loss of her healthy self, her breast and her world. Grief and depression can both occur normally for brief periods after the patient has gotten on with life.