Seldom does it happen that musings while waiting for a bus at the bus stop change the course of one's life! But it happened with Dr Brindha Sitaram, one of India's foremost and eminent Psycho-Oncologists a few decades ago. As a young student of Psychology at NIMHANS in Bangalore, the sight of cancer patients across the street at the Kidwai Memorial caught Brindha's attention. “What did it mean to have a sane mind in an errant body? What emotional upheavals do they face?” wondered this young student of Clinical Psychology. This sparked her interest to investigate the psychological elements of pain and the much talked about mind-body nexus when it comes to a disease like cancer. 
Brindha soon realised that she was shooting in the dark. The very idea of cancer patients warranting psychological support was scoffed at by the purists as the concept was unheard of in India at that time. The world in the 1980s was just waking up to the new field of Psycho-Oncology, a discipline that marries these two diverse streams of medicine. After equipping herself with skills in both Oncology and Psychology, Brindha decided to specialise in this field in one of the universities abroad. After successful fellowships in leading cancer institutes in the US, she returned to make a difference in her country. Her biggest challenge was selling the idea to the medical community which looked at this as a quasi-science.
Cancer brings with it tremendous psychological, emotional and social distress to patients and their families alike. Western studies show that about 60% of cancer patients suffer from severe emotional distress that warrants psychological intervention. At any given time, there are about 15 lakh cancer patients in India.
Due to lack of indigenous data, if earlier figures are extrapolated to the Indian context, nearly 9 lakh patients are in dire need of psychological help. But sadly, only a handful of psycho-oncologists exist in India to cater to such patients across the 300-odd cancer hospitals of the country.
An insightful study conducted by Dr Brindha revealed that once provided psychological support, the immune system becomes buoyant and the natural killer cells in the body that combat tumour get enhanced. Yet, we neglect such a critical component of the treatment.
It is against this background that COPER or the Center of Psycho-Oncology for Education and Research was born. COPER is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and is an associate of NIAS. With eminent personalities like Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Dr Kasturirangan, Justice Venkatachalaiah and others on its Board, COPER seeks to establish the field of Psycho-Oncology in India through a multi-pronged approach of education, research and service. Its catchline, ‘Understanding the Human face of Cancer,’ speaks for itself.
“Cancer distress is usually across a continuum, from the initial shock on discovery of the disease to acceptance and coping with it definitely needs professional assistance. COPER hopes to empower all the health-care providers with a set of psychological skills to address patient needs,” says Dr Brindha. To create this man-power pool, COPER would be starting its first one-year diploma course on Psycho-Oncology starting July 2, 2007. Alongside, it also envisages a six-month fellowship for social workers, nurses and doctors to help them evaluate and manage patient-distress. A short three-month certification course for nurses is also in the offing to help them identify the distress in the first place. All these programs would have intensive theoretical training followed by practical stints, with live experiences of dealing with patients.
Research and creating a knowledge-bank on this nascent field is another objective of COPER. It has offered to set up, monitor and empower Psycho-Oncology departments in cancer hospitals across India.
Quiz her about the scope of the discipline and Dr Brindha says, “From womb to tomb and beyond! From the time of detection to deciding on the nature of treatment to cure and thereafter, psychological support plays a major role. It is not that we fix the body and the mind would fix for itself, but usually the other way round. We have a major role to play in Preventive Oncology and palliative care as well.”
To this effect COPER also runs a cancer support group called YANA (You Are Not Alone), a human chain that lends a helping hand to individuals touched by cancer. This help could be in terms of providing information, resource support, helpline services, emotional and social support, financial aid, etc. COPER also has the first Neuro-Psycho-Oncology program in India. It deals with the cognitive issues of patients like loss of memory or faculties of reading, attention or language skills. Rehabilitation of such patients has sadly never been on the medical agenda. But things might just be different going forward.
Dr Brindha is optimistic about future. “In view of the strong scientific evidences about the enhancement in quality of life, advantages in terms of better tolerance to treatment and longer survival time for patients who opt for psychological support; the day is not far off when COPER will make it possible to integrate Psycho-Oncology into mainstream cancer care.
“We must understand that cancer is a team game, like cricket, where the patient is the captain. But sadly, he is reduced to the 12th batsman. Restoring self-control and empowering the patient to help him win this game is our mission,” she says.
As she looks back at her arduous journey, Dr Brindha's face lights up with a smile of satisfaction at the prospect of consummation of her dreams.
“This journey has helped me keep in touch with myself. Having touched and felt suffering at such close quarters, you start valuing life more.”
For details, contact: 080-65630099 or log on to www.coperindia.org or mail coperindia@rediffmail.com