The traumatic stress model starts with the assumption that cancer is a traumatic event, and people often think of children with cancer as having depression or post-traumatic stress. But that is not always the case.

Dr. Sean Phipps and his team discovered that for some survivors their personal function actually improved as a result of their cancer experience.

Sean Phipps, PhD is the Chair of Psychology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He spoke at the 2013 POGO Multi-Disciplinary Symposium on Childhood Cancer.

Straight Talk about Childhood Cancer is POGO’s new series of video shorts featuring the insights of experts whose leading-edge work impacts the care, treatment and quality of life of childhood cancer patients, survivors and their families.