Upbeat Attitude Doesn't Affect Cancer

Reality Master 101 writes "Defying years of conventional wisdom, researchers announced that your attitude doesn't influence your outcome, and 'patients shouldn't feel pressured to stay positive'. I particularly liked the phrase, 'the tyranny of positive thinking'."

Comments

So?

[Apreche]

It may not save your life to think positive. But if you are skulking and depressed your final days wont be pleasant ones. Everyone, cancer or not, should do thinks that make them happy and think positively all the time. Your lifetime is limited, even if you are very healthy. Make the most of it and don't waste time by being depressed.

Re:So?

[ClosedSource]

"Make the most of it and don't waste time by being depressed."

I appreciate the sentiment, but we should be careful about suggesting that depression is a choice.

Re:So?

[Iamthefallen]

But being forced into positive thinking isn't that good either. While anyone can muster a smile, it doesn't mean they're amused. Having the extra weight of having to be happy happy happy might push a person deeper into a depression if they're inclined to go that way. Sometimes it is nice to simply sulk and be miserable, a longterm depression is an issue, to allow yourself the luxury of a bit of selfpity isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Re:So?

[Bastian]

Not only that, but it's important for people to listen to the dying. If someone is nearing the end, catheterized, bedridden, having problems with shortness of breath, and dependent on pain medication and they feel crappy about it, they need to be listened to just as much as anybody else needs to talk about their recent crappy grade on a test.

I think that's the most killer part of the 'tyrrany of happiness' - if you try to force someone to be happy, you deny them their emotions. Someone dying of cancer might have few forms of dignity left other than expressing his or her feelings, and trying to make them cheer up is only going to make them feel that much more alone and make death that much more of a miserable experience.

Re:So?

[macdaddy357]

Amen. Telling yourself that dogshit is roses doesn't make it so. If you are dying, that sucks! Only actually being dead could be worse. If I had to spend my last days with happy sunshiney phonies, or self agrandizing charity people who think sending me to Disneyland will make it all better, I'd get a rifle, and find a bell tower.

Re:So?

[Iamthefallen]

Indeed, by telling them to cheer up, it's not so bad, you're belittling their pain and agony, which will probably make them feel a lot worse since it seems no one understands just what they're feeling. This is the case for mostly all forms of depression, support the person and help them see the positive things, but never try to bullshit them. There are always positive things around to point out, there's no need to invent them.

Re:So?

[R.Caley]

Make the most of it and don't waste time by being depressed.

Some of us like being depressed.

Re:So?

[dunedan]

you can't be forced into positive thinking. You can be forced into positive acting

I think it is good to encourage people to have a happy outlook

I think it is bad to do the above without a good enough relationship w/ the patient to tell if they are "faking".

Re:Misleading

[tiedyejeremy]

Misleading is an understatement. The headline suggests that everyone has thought one thing is now making a complete turnaround in their beliefs.

This paragraph is quite telling in the real story:
" Researcher Mark Petticrew, PhD, and colleagues examined 26 studies assessing the role of psychological coping styles on cancer recurrence and survival, and concluded that none conclusively linked any one style to positive outcomes. "

They [Petticrew & colleagues] are not even talking about the results of their own study, but a study of 26 studies whose net result is that the big picture is inconclusive.

Sheesh - talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill here.

this only deals with cancer

[Hythlodaeus]

A positive outlook does correlate with a higher number of immune system T-cells, increasing resistance to most infectious diseases. (Search Google if you want a reference.) It's not surprising this doesn't help with cancer, since cancer wouldn't be a problem in the first place if the immune system actually recognized it as a problem.

What's the alternative?

[GuyMannDude]

I'm really annoyed with the faith people put in "scientific studies".

What do you suggest people put their faith in when it comes to health matters? Alternative medicine? Prayer/God? Their own gut feeling/experiences? I would argue that all these are obviously much more dubious than scientific studies when it comes to something important like your health. Granted, scientific studies are often wrong. But eventually the truth will come out. People put faith in scientific studies because (1) they are performed by intelligent, cautious people, (2) they're gonna get reviewed by other intelligent, cautious people, (3) people have seen how science has lead to incredible medical breakthroughs in the past.

Also, IMO, Science definately has *NOT* figured out what affect the human mind can have on human health, and how, regardless of this single study.

And what are you basing your opinion on? Your exhaustive search of the medical literature? Your own personal research? A chat with a medical friend over drinks? I'm guessing it's just your gut feeling. I happen to agree with you on this but I find it odd that you decry the faith people put in scientific studies and then follow that up with your own faith-based (not talking reglious here) statement.

If you want to be annoyed with something, then target your frustration at science reporting in the mainstream media. Or direct your anger at our pathetic science education system that gives most people a poor understanding of the scientific process. Don't get pissed off about the fact that people look to science for the answers to life's most vexing questions. It's not flawless but it's the best system we got.

GMD

Good points on both sides

[RetiredMidn]

I was diagnosed with cancer a little over four years ago. Somehow, I managed to take a positive outlook on it. (If you'd asked me to predict my reaction beforehand, and if I'd answered honestly, I'd have predicted that I would have melted down.) I found that if I woke up in the morning committed to projecting a positive attitude, I actually started to feel it.

Where I do think it helped is getting through the discomfort and especially the chemo. I think it also made me more approachable by my friends and colleagues, and their willingness to talk and listen was a significant source of strength through that time.

Nonetheless, even as a new believer in the power of positive thinking, one of the most irritating phenomena I faced was the advice that my attitude was all-important, and the (perhaps unintended) implication that a bad outcome would be my own fault if I didn't smile.

Positive thinking is it's own reward, whether it's medically efficacious (sp?) or not. But one must be very careful about pressuring people to adopt the attitude and becoming part of the problem instead.