As maladaptive disgust responses are linked to mental health problems, and cancer patients
may experience heightened disgust as a result of treatments they receive, we explored the
associations between disgust-related side-effects and symptoms of depression and anxiety in
people treated for cancer. One hundred and thirty two (83 women, Mage = 57.48 years)
participants answered questions about their treatments, side-effects, disgust responding, and
mental health. Experiencing bowel and/or bladder problems, sickness and/or nausea (referred
to here as “core” disgust-related side-effects) was significantly related to greater symptoms of
depression and borderline increased anxiety. Further, these links were explained by a
moderated mediation model, whereby the effects of core disgust side-effects on depression
and anxiety were mediated by (physical and behavioural) self-directed disgust, and disgust
propensity moderated the effect of core disgust side-effects on self-disgust. These findings
stress the importance of emotional responses, like disgust, in psychological adaptation to the
side-effects of cancer treatments
