I. Incidence of depression/anxiety in breast cancer patients According to the relevant data published by the World Health Organization, the incidence of depression in cancer patients ranges from 20% to 45%, which is much higher than the incidence of 6.1% to 9.5% in the general population, and the tendency of depression is particularly pronounced in breast cancer patients, with the incidence of depression/anxiety in breast cancer patients ranging from 1.5% to 46% in existing reports. The physical and psychological blow to patients after breast cancer treatment makes it possible for depression to occur in patients who were previously psychologically healthy, and for those who are already depressed, their symptoms may be further aggravated. In a foreign study on early breast cancer patients, the results after nearly 5 years of follow-up found that 45% of breast cancer patients had varying degrees of psychiatric psychological problems, 42% of which were depressive or anxiety disorder states; 1/5 of the patients had more than 2 types of psychiatric disorders. A study published in 2010 showed that among 487 patients with intraductal carcinoma in situ of the breast, patients were more likely to have symptoms of depression (P=0.0006) and anxiety (P=0.0005) if they had a lower socioeconomic status, a trend that was not related to social support. The researchers also found that the educational level of these patients did not correlate with depression and anxiety. A population-based cohort study showed that breast cancer survivors aged 40-59 years who had received adjuvant therapy were at higher risk of depression; a multifactorial Cox proportional risk analysis showed that age 40-59 years, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, TAM, AIs treatment and trastuzumab were independent risk factors for the development of depressive disorders. II. Screening for psychiatric psychological problems Psychological problems can be identified by psychological questionnaires, scales and other screening tools. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that health care workers should conduct regular depression screening for all adult patients, regardless of whether depression treatment or support is available. The current commonly used depression screening tool is the Patient Health Questionnaire; other depression screening tools include the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for Adults and the Geriatric Depression Inventory. However, despite the wide variety of current psychological screening questionnaires, there is no screening modality for mental health of breast cancer patients. How to combine patient symptoms with screening tools in the clinical setting to more accurately assess patients’ psychological conditions is a direction that needs to be further explored in the future. III. Mental health management of breast cancer patients Two surveys by the European Association for Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) show that breast cancer patients receive less attention than expected. There are many reasons why breast cancer patients are not aware of their depressive symptoms, including lack of time, rationalization of grief, attribution of physical symptoms of depression to cancer, and because depression is a mental illness, patients psychologically avoid social stigma. It was found that breast cancer patients are full of guilt towards their families, feel abandoned, isolated and lonely, and these negative feelings fill the entire breast cancer diagnosis and treatment process until the patient’s death. Mental health management for breast cancer patients is aimed at supporting the treatment process and improving the quality of life. Specific practices include: reducing adverse emotional conditions such as depression and anxiety; encouraging patients to express and vent their stressful emotions; learning coping skills for the disease; learning and trying to live a normal life again; reducing emotional stress in family or partner relationships; not avoiding discussions about death; and learning relaxation techniques to reduce physical adverse symptoms such as insomnia, pain, and nausea. However, many patients’ psychological problems are not identified – U.S. cancer patient data from 2010 showed that 25% of patients should have received psychological services in the previous year but did not; another study of older patients showed that 50% of older depressed patients were not identified. The vast majority of cancer patients with depression are not receiving treatment, a reality that warrants consideration and improvement by clinicians. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the psychosocial problems of breast cancer patients, and to provide interdisciplinary and comprehensive management from the perspective of oncology psychology in order to reduce the incidence of adverse effects and improve the prognosis. The specific practices include: early identification of psychological problems of breast cancer patients through symptoms and questionnaires; appropriate psychological intervention and pharmacological treatment to effectively improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients; and selection of appropriate endocrine treatment programs.