Facing the Tiger: A Survivorship Guide for Men with Prostate Cancer and their Partners
Professor Suzanne Chambers AO
www.suzannechambers.com.au"I wish my urologist had given me a copy when I was diagnosed.”
Endorsed by 
A limited number of FREE COPIES of Facing the Tiger are available each year through the generous support of AstraZeneca Australia and AbbVie Australia. If you are living with prostate cancer ask your prostate cancer care nurse, oncologist, urologist or other healthcare team member about getting a copy.
It's tough living with a diagnosis of prostate cancer. While the disease has one of the highest survival rates of any cancer, the side effects of treatment can be distressing, life-long and take a heavy toll.
Compared with men in the general population, men with prostate cancer are twice as likely to experience depression and three times more likely to experience anxiety. For those who know them and love them, life is often never the same after a diagnosis.
Helping men deal with the major life stress of prostate cancer can make all the difference to their mental and physical health as they travel on their survivorship journey. Men and their partners need a map to find the path that will take them back to a sense of ease and coping; a way to make treatment decisions they can live with; to clearly communicate their healthcare needs; to seek the right level of psychological help appropriate for them.
That's why Professor Suzanne Chambers AO, a world leader in the psychology of prostate cancer, developed this practical guidebook through her research and clinical work with many men and their partners over more than 30 years.
Facing the Tiger is not a guidebook about treatment options and does not give any medical advice. It suggests different perspectives for men and their partners on where they would like to be as they progress through their cancer journey and proven strategies to help that progress. Personal stories from men and women highlight the issues discussed and provide vivid insights into how others deal with prostate cancer. The book draws from over a decade of psycho-oncology research and practice to acknowledge that everyone's experience of prostate cancer is their own. There is no one right or wrong way to approach this stressful time, but the right guidance is essential to finding your own way.
First released in 2013, it has been updated with new survivor contributions and additional content, including key prostate cancer survivorship essentials for a better quality of life. It remains the most sought-after patient resource for prostate cancer in Australia.
Discounts available for bulk orders are available:
"This book is amazing. I have had so much positive feedback from patients and theirpartners. One wife told me she had read the book first, as her husband wasn’t going to read it even though he was feeling really low. She finally talked him into it and said he felt so much better afterwards, knowing others had been through what he was going through. It helped lift his spirits throughout his radiation treatment. I give this book to any of my patients who are struggling.”
— Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurse
For Health Professionals see also:
Find out more about the How and Why of Psychosocial Care for Men with Prostate Cancer at
FacingtheTiger.net
A Facing the Tiger
Psychological Care Resource
for web, tablet, phone, or ereader
available for Android, iPhone/iPad
Author royalties are directed
to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia
About the Author
Professor Suzanne Chambers AO is one of the world’s foremost experts in the psychology of cancer. With a distinguished 25-year career in health psychology, her expertise has been deepened by professional leadership roles in cancer control, research, and higher education, where her work has been praised for its impact on patient recoveries. She is a registered psychologist and member of the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Health Psychology. Suzanne was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2018 for distinguished service to medical research particularly in the area of psycho-oncology and community health through patient care strategies to assist men with prostate cancer.Reviews
Professor Suzanne Chambers is a highly regarded, experienced and practical researcher and practitioner in the management of psychological issues that emerge when a man is diagnosed with cancer of the prostate. The diagnosis not only affects him but invariably impacts his partner, family and friends.
This book clearly identifies key issues and provides reassurance and solutions in a compact, readable style that immediately puts the reader at ease and empowers them to "face the tiger”.
Each chapter includes specific activities to address the issues discussed and is rounded off with personal stories not only from survivors of prostate cancer but their partners and families as well. Two new chapters in this edition "Getting Unstuck” and "Survivorship” are valuable additions as they speak to the longer term. We cannot forget that at the time of publication over 200,000 men are living with prostate cancer in Australia. Over 95% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer will be alive five years after diagnosis and treatment.
The appendix contains well selected, trusted, quality resources for men, their partners and families and friends to start their own research to compliment the book.
Nearly 20,000 men a year are diagnosed with and 3500 men die from prostate cancer in Australia each year. The diagnosis and management of prostate cancer constitutes a significant proportion of modern Urological practice. This book will be an invaluable resource for Urologists and all clinicians involved in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer, not only in Australia and New Zealand but around the world.
There is probably no optimum way to face a tiger just as there is more than one way to face a diagnosis of prostate cancer. In this book Suzanne Chambers brings her expertise as a psychologist who has helped people deal with cancer together with the experience of men, their partners and families who have had to deal with a prostate cancer diagnosis. In doing so I believe that Suzanne has provided a resource in which many men and their families will find comfort and reassurance that others have managed to deal with the challenges presented by a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Given the choices that are faced regarding treatment I think the chapter on decision making is particularly relevant whilst this and the advice on exercise and general wellbeing echo a lot of what we are seeking to do at Prostate Scotland. This book may not provide all of the answers or help that every man and their families need, but I am sure it will help many.
— Prof. Alan McNeill, Consultant Urological Surgeon (Western General Hospital Edinburgh), Hon. Professor in the School of Engineering and physical Sciences Heriot Watt University, Trustee of Prostate Scotland
Being diagnosed with prostate cancer begins a journey no man — or his partner — wishes to take. But if fate finds you on it, Professor Suzanne Chambers’ book will guide you. In clear and approachable prose and with real-world stories, Facing the Tiger not only points out the twists and turns, it also gives you practical advice on how to become a stronger, more confident man, a more supportive and effective partner. I highly recommend it.
— Mark Lazenby, PhD, Fellow of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society and of the American Academy of Nursing; Professor of Nursing and Philosophy, University
of Connecticut, USA.
18 Victor Russell Drive, Samford Valley QLD 4520
+61 (0)7 3289 5346
+61 (0)7 3054 1718