'Fire Island' Star Justin Russo, 37, Says ‘Terrifying’ Cancer Scare Brought on Depression How to Manage Your Mental Health Amid Cancer

Russo is an artist and a cast member of reality TV show “Fire Island.” The program features a group of friends living together in a beach house in search of love.

During the show, Russo revealed his deeply intimate health scare before a campfire with a fellow cast member. He explained while going for a routine health check, he was told he may have cancer.

"I went to the doctor for a check-up and they said, 'You may have colon cancer,'" Russo explained in the show.

Colon cancer is a type of cancer that affects the large intestine (colon) or the end of the intestine (rectum).

He went on to say when he received the news, it was "the most terrifying" time in his life. He described how he felt alone at that moment, which brought about suicidal thoughts.

"It was a dark period in my life" he described.

Fortunately, he focused on his mental health to overcome his bout with depression.

"I overcame something that a lot of other people can also," he said.

Handling a Diagnosis

Coping with a diagnosis, whether it turns out to be cancer or just a scare, can be one of the toughest moments a person can experience.

Dr. Shelly Tworoger, a researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center told SurvivorNet that "there's a number of common things cancer patients can experience, such as anxiety, depression, financial toxicity, social isolation."

Cancer can weigh heavily emotionally just as much as the disease impacts the body physically. Fortunately, your care team can help you navigate your emotional health by turning you to resources to help you along your cancer journey and beyond.

Managing Mental Health Amid Cancer

Our mental health affects how we think, feel, and behave. Certain triggers like stress, traumatic events, or change in your physical health can affect mental health.

A cancer diagnosis often impacts your mental health so if you find yourself in this situation keeping tabs on your mental health is important.

Psychologist Dr. Samantha Board discusses managing mental health long-term.

"For long-term mental health and living with cancer, flexibility is really at the core of how to manage long-term mental health," says New York-based psychologist Dr. Samantha Boardman.

Dr. Boardman suggests asking yourself some questions about how you deal with stressful situations to see if they're working or need adjusting.

"Are your coping strategies in the way that you're using them now are they as effective as they were in the past? Take a look at your beliefs, do you have any fixed beliefs that are counterproductive that are impeding you from taking positive steps?" Dr. Boardman said.

In order to keep your mental health in check, it's important to be aware of signs which can be subtle that something is affecting your mind. These signs include:

• A change in eating or sleeping habits
• Losing interest in people or usual activities
• Experiencing little or no energy
• Numb and/or hopeless feelings
• Turning to drink or drugs more than usual
• Non-typical angry, upset, or on-edge feelings
• Yelling/fighting with loved ones
• Experiencing mood swings
• Intrusive thoughts
• Trouble getting through daily tasks

If you find yourself struggling in any of these areas, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional to begin your emotional journey alongside your other cancer treatment.

"Depression and stress make it harder to treat cancer [and] make it harder to tolerate the treatments," Dr. Scott Irwin, director of supportive care services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

"There's data that if you have extra stress or depression that you may not recover or you have a higher risk of recurrence, so in treating the depression, we're actually impacting the cancer care outcomes," Dr. Irwin added.

Can Your Emotional Health Be Tied to Your DNA?

If you are struggling to maintain positive thoughts related to your outlook on life amid your cancer journey, a genetic test could help you find the right solution.

Genetic testing has been shown to be successful in matching patients with the right medication to offset bouts of anxiety or depression.

Dr. Lori Plutchik explains how genetic testing can help with mental health treatment.

"This test covers all of the psych medications, essentially, and it also covers pain medications. It's such a great test," Dr. Lori Plutchik, licensed psychiatrist and co-founder of Caring For Caregivers, previously told SurvivorNet.

"Depression affects about 20% of women at some point in their life and about 10% of men at some point in their life. That's a very prevalent illness, and then when you're working in the cancer population, which I've worked in extensively over the years, depression can be up to 50% in patients who are having impairments in their life due to their illness," Dr. Plutchik continued.

The test which Dr. Plutchik uses, Genomind, looks for multiple factors before determining the medication that will both have successful results and minimal side effects.

To do this, there are two parts the test examines. First, the doctor will test for certain genes that are associated with responses to a medication commonly prescribed for mental health issues. Secondly, the patient's ability to metabolize medication will be tested. Doing this reduces the chance of negative side effects and allows for patients to respond well to medication on the first try.

"About 95% of the time the first medication that I choose for them ends up being the right medication," Dr. Plutchik explains.

How to Maintain Good Mental Health

Psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin shared some simple tips to help maintain good mental health and healthily reduce stress.

When it comes to dealing with anxiety, Dr. Strongin said it's important to have a healthy relationship with these feelings and get to know them rather than fear them, avoid them, or push them away.

"By learning more about your anxious thoughts and tendencies, one can begin to answer their anxious thoughts even in moments when there aren't any answers. For cancer patients, the worry thoughts tend to be, "Will I survive?" It's important to let those thoughts come in and really be able to tolerate them before answering them. This is a very powerful coping skill," Dr. Strongin explained.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor

If you find yourself struggling with a diagnosis or helping a loved one cope with their emotions, consider asking your doctor the following questions:

• How can I go about improving my outlook/mental health?
• Are there any activities I can do to encourage positive feelings?
• When should I seek other interventions if I'm still struggling?
• What are the steps to finding a different therapist if the one I'm using is not working out?

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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