BACKGROUND In India, around 2.0-2.5 million people are living with one (or) another type of cancer. Cancer leads to grief and pain. We wanted to evaluate the psychiatric infirmities (anxiety, depression and stress) in cancer patients using DASS 21. METHODS It is prospective and observational study, which was done at Department of Oncology, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Warangal. The data was gathered by administering the evaluated questionnaire response 21-characteristics depression,

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... and stress scale (DASS21) after taking informed consent and ethical approval. RESULTS 112 subjects satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. The mean age of the cancer patients is (53.3±10.97) years with the most frequent age group being (30-39) years with female preponderance (80%). The internal consistency of DASS is (0.75). No significant correlation was found between age and psychiatric infirmities. There is a significant correlation found between depression and anxiety (p < 0.0005), stress and depression (p < 0.0004), stress and anxiety (p < 0.0001), anxiety and depression (p < 0.0001). Breast cancer has the highest prevalence of anxiety and depression. CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of anxiety is more when compared to depression and stress. The patients who are on radiation therapy are more liable to show psychological disorders. Breast cancer, head and neck cancer have higher prevalence of psychiatric disturbances in our study. In India, around 2.0-2.5 million people are living with one (or) another type of cancer; over and above 7-8 lakh new cases are added every year. (3) Cancer leads to psychological stress. A mortal ailment like cancer will doubtlessly have pathetic repercussions. The occurrence of cancer has been affiliated with elevated measure of psychological stress. The association between dysphoric effect and cancer has been reported by Galen long ago. Ethereally these are disorders with emotional and