A 1-year prospective study of individual variation in distress, and illness perceptions, after treatment for breast cancer

There is marked individual variation in psychological morbidity in the year following breast cancer surgery, which is reliably predicted by the patient's immediate postoperative state of distress, her perception of the impact of the symptoms and the time line of the disease. Subgroups of patients with chronically high distress are characterised by factors including personality and negative perceptions and beliefs about their illness.