Managing Prostate Cancer: A Guide for Living Better

     Males in our society frequently shy away from acknowledging, much less managing, their more vulnerable emotions. Through clear examples Roth inspires confidence and hope, for he enables solutions for veterans as well as beginners in the PCa journey as they face multifaceted medical options, physiological manifestations, and concurrent emotional challenges. Here Roth offers guidance, understanding, and concrete suggestions for reframing one’s attitude toward the condition, as well as for how to live a meaningful life both as a prostate cancer survivor and as a patient facing a life with prostate cancer.

     An estimated 200,000 cases of prostate cancer (PCa) are newly diagnosed each year in the USA where, in 2017 over 3 million survivors face unexpected psychological stress. Other books address the pros and cons of diagnostics and physiological treatment options: radiation, chemical therapies, prostate removal, and/or hormone deprivation techniques. Knowledge of these related options provides some understanding and assurance. But with over 20 years of experience, Roth, as psychiatry liaison to the Medical Oncology Program at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, unpacks psychological realities of the disease’s impacts as he offers practical information of a different sort.

     In two parts, the book first covers New Diagnosis and Early State Disease, then treats Later Stage Disease and Recurrence. Chapters can be selected and read in any order. But even if one zeros in on a topic that at first glance seem most relevant, the author recommends (and I followed his advice and agree) healthy rewards for those who cycle back to the beginning to grasp the underlying basics and Roth’s experience. The author admits that some might be well served by an actual visit with a psychological counselor over PCa issues (and this reviewer concurs fully with that advice), but many may find the insights, humility, and humor set forth here helpful and satisfying enough in their own right.