Positive attitude ‘no cure for cancer
Article from: AAP
June 02, 2008 10:27am
Positive attitude 'no cure for cancer by Tamara McLean
- Aussie experts debunk "fighting spirit" talk
- Positive, negative thinking does not affect cancer
The belief that a positive attitude can help fight cancer has been debunked by Australian specialists who have proved a fighting spirit does not improve survival chances.
The researchers said they realised their findings, presented at a major cancer conference in Chicago today, might not impress the majority of patients who believed their outlook could help their diagnosis, but said it could be good news too.
"People often really beat themselves up and blame their attitude if their cancer relapses," said Professor Kelly-Anne Phillips, a medical oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
"We've shown absolutely that you're not at fault. You cannot influence your cancer with positive or negative thinking, depression, a fighting spirit, or any other factor.
"That should be reassuring, but I guess it could cut both ways."
The study involved 708 women in the Australian Breast Cancer Family Study who had been newly diagnosed with localised breast cancer and tracked them over eight years to see whether their cancer relapsed.
A quarter died over the period.
Levels of depression, anxiety and other factors like fatalist outlook, avoidance, anger, and feelings of hopelessness were also assessed.
"Essentially the bottom line is we didn't find any correlation at all between these issues and whether their cancer came back," Prof Phillips said.
"This goes against what the vast majority of patients believe."
Women who had an anxious preoccupation with their cancer were more likely to relapse but once the researchers adjusted for all the things known to cause recurrence, like size and grade of the tumour, this association disappeared, she said.
"The women who were anxiously preoccupied were the ones that had the worst tumours, so they were anxious and preoccupied for a reason," said Prof Phillips.
She said women may not like the news as it might make them feel like they have little control of their outcome, "but it's important to see the upside too".
Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor Ian Olver said he had been involved in a smaller study in lung cancer that reached a similar conclusion.
"A positive attitude is great and it clearly helps quality of life when you're going through treatment but it makes an undetectable difference to disease," he said.
Thankfully I connected with Lifeforce in 1994 after breast cancer treatment. For 2yrs I attended Annandale Group every Thurs. They helped with my cancer issues, but also save my sanity with other deeper issues, I cannot thank them enough. I am so glad to read the above, I have worked as a volunteer for many years with cancer patients and heard them blame themselves. As I came to the realisation early in my healing (after much reading plus healing work) that is is not our fault, it always made me sad to hear peoples angst. I absolutely believe the only way to live with cancer, is to live well and enjoy best you can, whatever time one has. I, so far, have had 17yrs of living well, with ups and downs. At the time I only asked for 4yrs to see my daughter reach 21. How fortunate am I, I say thank you everyday for my being here. I wish the above could be explained to all cancer patients, when trying to recover. So many myths out there. Best wishes from a survivor. Ann
The idea that 'being positive' makes all the difference to the outcome of a cancer diagnosis has been well entrenched in our society for many years now. I'm not sure where the idea originated but the study undertaken at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre does appear to disprove this belief.
During my treatment I grew to hate it when people complimented me on how positive I was. To some extent I was to blame for this because at the time I didn't have anywhere to share my so-called 'negative' thoughts and emotions. Most people dealing with cancer don't want to burden their family and friends with their fears so they swallow them down and soldier on. But pushing down feelings that already exist doesn't make them go away. I found this to my cost.
After my treatment finished I sank into depression, extreme anxiety and suffered from debilitating panic attacks. Fortunately for me I found Life Force and by attending a support group with other people who really understood and allowed me to express all my despair without feeling that they had to try and fix it for me, was the way I eventually fixed myself. Every time I was able to express exactly how I had felt during and was still feeling after my cancer treatment some of the pain left me. Over a period of months I gradually found I was able to spend great chunks of time not dwelling on how useless and hopeless I felt.
The comment in the article about a positive attitude making a difference to quality of life makes sense but I believe that we need to be validated for whatever we are feeling. There is a grave risk that some people will blame themselves if they have a relapse ‘because they weren’t positive enough’. There is also a very real chance that opportunities will be missed for talking openly and honestly with family towards the end of life if the focus is only on being positive in a vain bid to stave off the inevitable. As painful as it might be, this can be an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share how much they mean to each other and to deepen their relationships. What better legacy could anyone leave when it’s their time?
Paradoxically, by finding somewhere that I was encouraged to be anything but positive, led me to eventually feeling more optimistic. Perhaps that is a better word to use; it allows for hope in the face of a reality that is extremely challenging.
Jane Gillespie
(Life Force Support Group Facilitator)