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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Power of
Positive Thinking Not Enough to Slow Down Cancer
Emotional state positive or negative has no
effect on cancer survival
 Oct. 22, 2007 The power of positive thinking
doesnt work, when it comes to fighting cancer, but, being a pessimist
is not going to make it any worse either. A patients emotional state
positive or negative has no effect on cancer survival, or the cancers
progression, according to a large new study.
Published in the December 1, 2007 issue of CANCER,
a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study found
that emotional well-being was not an independent factor affecting the
prognosis of head and neck cancers.
The question of whether or not the mind, through
psychological state and emotional status, has the ability to heal
organic disease in the body continues to be reviewed and tested in human
health research.
A large body of evidence strongly suggests that,
for life-threatening diseases such as advanced cancer, it does not.
However, this debate continues in popular and scientific circles.
Particular importance has been attached to the question because of the
belief that if it can be shown that emotions affect the outcome of
cancer, then psychotherapy might be able to aid in the fight against
cancer.
Dr. James Coyne and colleagues from the University
of Pennsylvania say previous studies used patients with many different
diseases, small sample sizes and an inadequate number of deaths to be
conclusive.
Dr. Coyne's team analyzed data from two community
studies of patients with head and neck cancer "to examine whether
emotional well being at study entry predicted survival." Their approach
had the methodological strengths of using a homogenous population and
many deaths to detect even small statistically significant effects.
The sample included 1,093 patients with head and
neck cancer who completed a quality of life questionnaire during their
treatment. Of that group, 646 died during the length of the study. The
analysis showed that emotional status was not associated with survival
rate.
Emotional status was not associated with survival
even after investigating several other factors, such as gender, tumor
site or disease stage.
In one of the methodologically strongest studies to
date, Dr. Coyne and co-authors found that emotional status "neither
directly affected progression or death, nor functioned as a lurking
variable."
While this study may not end the e debate, it does
provide the strongest evidence to date that psychological factors are
not independently prognostic in cancer management.
Moreover, a recent comprehensive review by Dr. Coyne and Dr. Stephen
Palmer of the University of Pennsylvania and Michael Stefanek of the
American Cancer Society failed to find credible evidence in the
available studies for the claim that cancer patients' participation in
psychotherapy or support groups prolonged their lives. That review was
published in Psychological Bulletin.
Dr. Coyne noted that "The hope that we can fight
cancer by influencing emotional states appears to have been misplaced.
If cancer patients want psychotherapy or to be in a support group, they
should be given the opportunity to do so.
There can be lots of emotional and social
benefits. But they should not seek such experiences solely on the
expectation that they are extending their lives."
Editors Notes:
Article: "Emotional Well-Being Does Not Predict
Survival in Head and Neck Cancer Patients: A Radiation Therapy Oncology
Group Study," James C. Coyne, Thomas F. Pajak, Jonathan Harris, Andre
Konski, Benjamin Movsas, Kian Ang, Deborah Watkins Bruner, CANCER;
Published Online: October 22, 2007 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.23080); Print
Issue Date: December 1, 2007.
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