This paper confirms that a poor mood in patients on ADT is associated with loss of sexual function. However, the impact on the patient’s partnership was not always negative. Older literature had suggested that when men on ADT lose their libido, they may fail to show affection toward their partners and this in turn can distress the partner, weakening the spousal bond. This paper suggests that this is not an inevitable outcome of ADT. What seems to matter most is that the couple are in agreement about how the ADT has affected his mood. The spousal bond can actually be higher for patients on ADT than patients not on ADT provided the couple concur on how ADT has affected the patient’s mood.
Hamilton LD, Van Dam D, Wassersug RJ. The perspective of prostate cancer patients and patients' partners on the psychological burden of androgen deprivation and the dyadic adjustment of prostate cancer couples. Psychooncology 2015; [Epub ahead of print] 28 September 2015. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26411285