LAUSR

Research has consistently demonstrated an increased prevalence of depression among oncology patients. Despite this well-established fact, depression continues to be underdiagnosed within this population. Some attribute this to the overlap between the symptomatology of depression and that of cancer (e.g., sleep disturbance, fatigue, and decreased appetite). Others attribute it to the healthcare team’s tendency to prioritize somatic symptoms over psychiatric ones, especially in more medically complex cases. As medical students and healthcare providers who frequently interact with oncology patients in clinical settings, we believe that part of the reason for the underdiagnosis of depression among oncology patients is that healthcare teams often neglect to elicit patients’ perspectives of moodrelated symptoms. With this in mind, we made an intentional effort to discuss mood-related symptoms by asking all oncology patients a simple question: “Do you feel depressed?” When we made this small but deliberate effort, we quickly realized that patients’ experiences of mood changes are complex and heterogeneous. In other words, oncology patients perceive and experience depressive symptoms in different ways, which may explain why some patients’ mood disorders go undetected. Here, we share three different perspectives of mood changes that we more commonly encountered among our patients.