Complementary therapies to Manage Anxiety and Stress

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Psychological Stress and Anxiety

Psychological stress describes what people feel when they are under mental, physical, or emotional pressure. People who are able to use effective coping strategies to deal with stress, such as relaxation and stress management techniques, have been shown to have lower levels of depression, anxiety, and symptoms related to the cancer and its treatment.

  • Depression and Sadness: Up to 96.6% describe feelings of sadness or depression; major depression is linked with lower treatment adherence and quality of life.
  • Irritability and Nervousness: 82.8–85.7% report increased irritability and emotional instability during and after treatment.
  • Anxiety and Worry: A major source of distress. Fear of recurrence, panic at bodily changes, and persistent worry are nearly universal, with 94.5% reporting significant worry about their health.
  • Stress amplifies psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, which are strongly linked to higher levels of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and increased pain severity. Studies show that patients with higher anxiety and depression report more intense fatigue and pain, creating a reinforcing symptom cluster that worsens overall distress and quality of life.
  • Physiologically, chronic stress triggers prolonged activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system, leading to elevated cortisol and norepinephrine. These stress hormones promote inflammation, immune suppression, and alterations in the tumor microenvironment, which can intensify pain perception and fatigue by increasing systemic inflammatory responses and reducing the body’s ability to recover.
  • Stress heightens symptom expectancy and sensitivity, meaning anxious patients tend to anticipate and perceive pain and fatigue more intensely. Anxiety can exacerbate symptoms such as pain, nausea, and sleep disturbances, amplifying the subjective experience of distress and fatigue.
  • Chronic stress may also undermine treatment adherence and recovery, indirectly worsening fatigue and pain by impairing immune function and limiting patients’ engagement with supportive care or symptom management strategies, which contributes to increased symptom burden and mortality risk.
  • Psychological stress worsens symptom cluster distress and daily life interference: Studies show that stress correlates with greater distress from co-occurring pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance via inflammatory pathways. Stress increases symptom burden and reduces quality of life by amplifying inflammation-driven symptom severity.
  • Stress-induced inflammation influences fatigue persistence: Variability in fatigue after cancer treatment may relate to how stress-induced inflammatory responses remain elevated or dysregulated in some patients but not others, contributing to chronic fatigue.
  • Stress worsens fatigue and pain in cancer patients by promoting and amplifying inflammation through neuroendocrine-immune interactions, increasing pro-inflammatory cytokines that induce fatigue-related sickness behaviors and intensify pain perception. Managing psychological stress may therefore be crucial to reducing inflammation and the physical symptom burden in cancer patients.
  • Stress-induced cytokine release creates a chronic pro-inflammatory and immunosuppressive environment that promotes tumor development, progression, and metastasis while impairing the immune system’s ability to combat cancer. Targeting stress and inflammation may therefore be critical in improving cancer outcomes and patient well-being.

It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.

Hans Selye

Here are some complementary therapies that can help:

Virtuality Reality
This 2024 study involving a total of 128 adult hospitalized patients with cancer concluded: Among hospitalized adult patients with moderate-severe pain related to cancer and cancer therapies, VR provided more nonpharmacologic pain relief than active control and this benefit sustained long after conclusion of the intervention.

Nanea Reeves, founder & CEO of TRIPP says:
Unlike many meditation apps, TRIPP is informed by research and combines immersive worldscapes with gamification, binaural audio, breathwork, and guided meditations to deliver holistic well-being experiences tailored to the needs of each user.
See VR Relieves Cancer Pain

Art therapy
A study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management found that art therapy can reduce a broad spectrum of symptoms related to pain and anxiety in cancer patients. Source: ScienceDaily

Autogenic therapy
Autogenic therapy refers to a particular technique of mental exercises involving relaxation and autosuggestion, which aims to teach individuals to switch off the fight/flight/fight stress response at will.

With any unusual bodily experience, panic strikes: Oh no, please do not let it be cancer again. I live in fear between scans.”

Cancer patient

Essential Oils (Aromatherapy)
Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils from plants to support and balance the mind, body, and spirit. It is used by patients with cancer mainly as a form of supportive care that may improve quality of life and reduce stress and anxiety.

Faith Healing
The National Cancer Institute says: Spiritual and religious well-being may help improve health and quality of life in the following ways:

  • Decrease anxiety, depression, anger, and discomfort.
  • Decrease the sense of isolation (feeling alone) and the risk of suicide.
  • Decrease alcohol and drug abuse.
  • Lower blood pressure and the risk of heart disease.
  • Help the patient adjust to the effects of cancer and its treatment.
  • Increase the ability to enjoy life during cancer treatment.
  • Give a feeling of personal growth as a result of living with cancer.
  • Increase positive feelings, including:
    • Hope and optimism.
    • Freedom from regret.
    • Satisfaction with life.
    • A sense of inner peace.

Spiritual and religious well-being may also help a patient live longer.

Get adequate sleep

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Hands-on Healing / Healing Touch
This study The Clinical Effectiveness of Healing Touch, included twenty-two (22) clients who had never experienced Healing Touch. It concluded: The data support the clinical effectiveness of Healing Touch in health enhancement, specifically for raising sIgA concentrations, lowering stress perceptions and relieving pain.

Laughter Therapy
A type of therapy that uses humor to help relieve pain and stress and improve a person’s sense of well-being. It may be used to help people cope with a serious disease, such as cancer. Laughter therapy may include laughter exercises, clowns, and comedy movies, books, games, and puzzles.

Massage
Massage treatment is the manipulation of muscles and soft tissue through kneading, rubbing, pressing, etc. Studies have shown that a massage will decrease stress, anxiety, depression, pain, and fatigue. Therefore, it is very beneficial in any cancer protocol. The connection among physical well-being, touch, and relaxation is very strong and can enhance the body’s own abilities to heal.

Mindfulness – Meditation
In this study, forty-nine patients with breast cancer and 10 with prostate cancer enrolled in an eight-week MBSR [mindfulness-based stress reduction] program that incorporated relaxation, meditation, gentle yoga and daily home practice. MBSR program participation was associated with enhanced quality of life and decreased stress symptoms, altered cortisol and immune patterns consistent with less stress and mood disturbance, and decreased blood pressure.

Music
A total of 100 participants were enrolled in this 2022 study The Effect of Classical Music on Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Mood which found: Listening to slow music was viewed as calming…nearly all subjects believe music can help manage stress. Listening to music may be a potential therapeutic method for reducing anxiety and depression.

528 Hz Music
This study says: We found that music of different frequencies had different effects on the endocrine system, especially oxytocin and cortisol. Our findings suggest that 528 Hz music reduces stress even if participants listen to the music for only a short time.

Tracks featuring 528hz music
https://soundcloud.com/user-868469815-279437657/528-hz-pure-tone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2S_nbvz1t0
https://open.spotify.com/album/4nCc1RosiutNoEOx33MWcC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZNh7i4lZKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm5dOIxX8OE

Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) therapy involves sequential tensing and relaxation of major skeletal muscle groups and aims to reduce feelings of tension, to lower perceived stress, and to induce relaxation.
Reports of patients who participated in PMR training following cancer treatment indicate that they experienced reduced state anxiety, pain, and symptoms of depression, as well as improvements in sleep parameters and overall quality of life.

Reiki
Reiki is a natural non-invasive therapy that promotes healing through stress reduction, relaxation and balancing of your energy systems.
The  International Association of Reiki Professionals® says a Reiki session can help ease tension and stress and can help support the body to facilitate an environment for healing on all levels – physical, mental, and emotional.

Therapeutic Touch
Therapeutic Touch is based on the belief that “energy fields” (also known as chi, qi, ki or prana) surround and penetrate the human body.

Spiritual Connection
In cancer care, being spiritual can have a powerful positive effect on your outcome. Researchers with the Washington University School of Medicine have found that ovarian cancer patients had less stress and depression plus lower levels of certain factors related to tumor growth.

Yoga
Yoga is a form of nonaerobic exercise that involves a program of precise postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. Yoga can be a useful method to help relieve some symptoms of chronic diseases such as cancer and can lead to increased relaxation and physical fitness.

Tapping to relieve stress.

What is Tapping?

The following appears on The Tapping Solution website

Tapping, also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), is a powerful stress relief technique. Tapping is based on the combined principles of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology.

Studies have shown that Tapping decreases cortisol (often called the stress hormone) in your body. The World Health Organization has announced that stress is the health epidemic of the 21st century.

This is because stress is linked to anxiety, weight gain, sleep problems, lack of motivation, chronic pain, stomach issues, and depression. Tapping is proven to reduce stress, lower cortisol, improve sleep, reduce anxiety, relieve pain, increase productivity, and so much more!

Stress is also detrimental to your immune system because when you’re stressed, your immune system’s ability to fight off antigens is reduced, and you are more susceptible to infections. Tapping helps to lower stress, and in turn, allows your immune system to do its work! Continue reading at The Tapping Solution website.

Last updated January 2026

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