Psychological Response to Cancer
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For many years it has been suggested that a personĘs psychological response to a diagnosis of cancer can affect the course of their disease (Greer, Morris and Pettingale, 1979). These researchers conducted a prospective study which examined the psychological state of mind of 69 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer, and related these responses to their medical outcomes five years later. The study found that women who initially reacted to the diagnosis with denial or a fighting spirit were much more likely to have a recurrence-free survival than women who reacted to the diagnosis with acceptance or feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Spiegel, Bloom, Kraemer and Gottheil (1989) studied a group of 86 patients with metastatic breast cancer prospectively. Half of the patients received an intervention of one year of weekly support group therapy with self-hypnosis for pain, and the other half were assigned to a control group. Both groups received routine oncological care. At 10 year follow-up, only three patients were alive. Death records indicated that for the intervention group, survival post-intervention was an average of 36.6 months, whereas for the control group it was 18.9 months, which was a significant difference. This study indicated that psychological intervention could prolong cancer survival rates in those with metastatic breast cancer. These study sparked an interest in the possibility that a personĘs attitude towards their illness may affe
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helplessness and hopelessness, anxious preoccupation, fatalism (stoic acceptance), and avoidance (denial) (Watson, Haviland, Greer, Davidson and Bliss, 1999). The CEC scale measure the extent to whi9ch patients suppress negative emotions. The HAD scale is widely used to screen for anxiety and depression and has been validated in cancer patients. Relapse data were only recorded if relapse occurred within five years of enrollment in the study, although mortality data were recorded beyond five years.
After five years, 133 women had died, 50 were alive with relapse, and 395 were alive and disease-free. There was a significantly increased risk of death in women who had scored high on the HAD scale category of depression, and a significantly increased risk of relapse or death in women with high scores on the helplessness and hopelessness category of the MAC scale compared with the women with a low score in this category. No significant results were found in the category of fighting spirit.
These results are in contrast to the earlier results of Greer, Morris and Pettingale (1979), and the researchers give some explanations for this. They contend that, though psychological responses may influence the immune responses to ca
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Hill Schnipper, Kraemer Gottheil, Davidson Bliss, Morris Pettingale, Center Contavespi, Sciences UCLA, Jeanne Achterberg, Scott Hamilton, Anxiety Depression, breast cancer, Lockwood Warr, psychological response, cancer patients, helplessness hopelessness, metastatic breast, metastatic breast cancer, guided imagery, morris pettingale 1979, psychological intervention, diagnosed breast, tucker 1999, cancer survival, haviland greer davidson, watson haviland greer, greer davidson bliss,
Approximate Word count = 2375
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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