Coping with Stress
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People diagnosed with breast cancer have many sources of stress.
Here, we discuss some healthy ways to help deal with this stress.
If your stress doesn’t get better (or even gets worse) over time, talk with your health care team. Your team can help you find ways to reduce your emotional distress.
Social support
Social support is the emotional support, practical help, advice and other benefits you get from interactions with people in your life, including:
- Family members
- Friends
- Spiritual advisors
- Co-workers and supervisors
- Health care providers, including mental health providers
- Other people who’ve had cancer
Social support is different for everyone. Some people have a strong social support network and others may feel alone.
Support groups and peer mentoring programs
Many people diagnosed with breast cancer expand and strengthen their emotional support systems by joining a support group (in person or online) or by connecting one-on-one with another breast cancer survivor. A social worker or patient navigator can help you find these resources.
You can also talk with your health care providers about how you’re feeling. They care about your overall well-being and want to help. They may connect you to a mental health provider on your health care team, such as a social worker, for emotional support.
Learn more about support groups.
Find an online or telephone support group or peer mentoring program.
Benefits of social support
People who’ve had breast cancer can benefit from social support. Whether it’s informal support from family and friends, or more formal support from group, peer mentoring program or one-on-one therapy with a counselor, social support can improve your quality of life [12-13].
Breast cancer survivors who have more social support tend to cope better emotionally than those with little support [131-136].
Learn more about the benefits of social support.
Learn more about quality of life during breast cancer treatment and quality of life after breast cancer treatment.
Counseling (psychotherapy)
Talking with a trained mental health provider (such as a psychologist, counselor or clinical social worker) can reduce distress and improve mental well-being and quality of life for people who’ve had breast cancer [137-138].
Some people prefer one-on-one counseling. Others prefer counseling in a group setting.
Mental health counseling may combine techniques such as coping skills training, relaxation exercises and mindfulness meditation to help reduce stress.
Learn more about support groups.
Mindfulness meditation (mindfulness-based stress reduction)
With mindfulness meditation (including mindfulness-based stress reduction), you’re aware of your thoughts and feelings, but you don’t interpret or judge them.
Mindfulness meditation uses breathing methods and may include guided imagery as well as other relaxation and stress reduction techniques.
Mindfulness meditation may help breast cancer survivors reduce [118,137-143]:
- Anxiety
- Fatigue
- Fear of breast cancer recurrence (a return of breast cancer)
- Stress
Mindfulness meditation may also improve quality of life for breast cancer survivors [140].
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of mental health counseling. Sessions are led by a mental health provider (such a psychologist or social worker) and may include techniques such as relaxation exercises.
Cognitive behavioral therapy can be done one-on-one or in a group. It can be done in-person or remotely.
Cognitive behavioral therapy may help breast cancer survivors reduce [3,96,137-138,143-152,236]:
- Anxiety
- Distress
- Fatigue and insomnia
- Fear of breast cancer recurrence (a return of breast cancer)
Not all mental health providers are trained to give cognitive behavioral therapy.
Physical activity (exercise)
Being active is a healthy way for people who’ve had breast cancer to deal with daily stress. Regular exercise (such as yoga) can help breast cancer survivors [137-138,140,143,153-161]:
- Give you a sense of control over your body
- Reduce anxiety
- Reduce fatigue
- Reduce stress
The American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend cancer survivors aim for at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week [1].
However, you don’t have to do a lot of exercise to get a benefit. Even simple activities (such as walking several times a week or yoga) can improve quality of life [7,137-138,140,157,160].
Learn about physical activity and breast cancer survival.
Learn about other benefits of physical activity for breast cancer survivors.
Other ways to cope with stress
Other ways to lower stress and anxiety include [140,162,236]:
- Expressive writing
- Music therapy
- Stress management (in a group program)
Susan G. Komen® Support Resources |
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Updated 03/26/26
This content is regularly reviewed by an expert panel including researchers, practicing clinicians and patient advocates.
