Archive for October, 2007

Attitude Doesn’t Affect Cancer Survival

I came across this headline today while checking the health news headlines. I like to keep abreast of the latest developments. It’s quite an alarming finding that was talked about by the website WebMD.

The study was said to have followed 1000 patients with head and neck cancer and when they controlled for all variables found that positive outlook had no bearing on improved lifespan.

I felt it to be of utmost importance to address a couple of points, considering how deflating this could be to anyone diagnosed with a serious illness or anyone who knows someone diagnosed with cancer, or really anyone in general.

Here are some points to ponder:

If the same study showed that 1000 patients were able to extend their lifespan with a positive attitude would it have been considered as influential and definite by as many? I think not.

Usually when a comprehensive study is done the implications are restricted to the findings. In other words, technically this study might have indicated there is not benefit from a positive attitude on head and neck cancer but this study did not test the influence of a positive attitude on other diseases.

I’m just saying that usually people are cautious when interpreting findings, but, for instance one expert commented that “The idea that we can control illness and death with our minds appeals to our deepest yearnings, but it just isn’t so.”

Again if a comprehensive study showed favourable findings with respect to cancer survival rates and people started saying it meant that the mind can help the body, I’m sure many experts would articulately comment that the study only looked at head and neck cancer and we cannot discuss the affect of attitude on other illnesses. Yet when people make sweeping statements like the above no one corrects them.

Anyone who has studied mind and body interactions knows that it takes more than a positive outlook to influence health. What good is a positive outlook if you don’t really believe it (at a deep level) How does this study control for that? In other words there are many people that consider themselves to have a positive demeanor, but deep down many may have doubts about the efficacy of a positive attitude on their health. Are they going to be able to account for this in the study?

Have you known people who lead such healthy life styles and appear to have such a positive outlook but yet get very sick? Just because one does everything that it considered “healthy” doesn’t mean they are really positive – at a deep level that is.

For instance I’ve known many people who exercise, eat healthy and appear to have a positive attitude and some of them get sick while others, who don’t appear to lead what’s considered a healthy lifestyle, don’t get sick. Many of the so called healthy people are not that healthy underneath because many might be so rigid in their approach that they are stressed at a deep level.

There is certainly nothing wrong with leading a healthy lifestyle – of course – actually I highly recommend doing so, but if we ignore the basic level of our inner emotions we are not truly healthy.

I do believe that if we can look at this study with the right interpretation it can lead us in the right direction.

What can we learn from this?

I have been personally researching the mind body interaction for many years, surveying many of the leading thinkers in the field. I have come to my own opinion after reviewing an abundance of information available on this topic.

In order to be truly healthy it takes more than a positive attitude, rather it takes a positive outlook at the very basic level of our being as humans. Simply put, we need to really be happy. That is the most important. Many of you have heard the word vibration. Vibration acknowledges the fact that everything in the universe is made up of energy, which vibrates.

When we are in a healthy state we are in a healthy vibration and the opposite is true when we are in a negative vibration. When we are truly at a level of healthy vibration, we not only have a positive outlook, but we can be positive at the core. It is my assertion that maintaining this true level of vibration allows us to be truly healthy and can certainly influence our health for the better.

Closing comments

I am not attempting to discount the physical either. If one has an illness I don’t think there is any harm in getting help from traditional medicine. This is really a topic for another day but suffice to say that I think one has to acknowledge the physical and the spiritual side of things. If we think of being truly healthy at our core, would we not welcome the help of traditional medicine? We would be open to helping ourselves.

On one last note, the study mentions that people often blame themselves for not having a positive attitude when they become sick. This might be true, but I think I’ve gotten my point across that it is most important to have a healthy vibration than merely have a positive attitude. I do agree that people should not blame themselves when they become sick. Rather they should become as proactive as they can to address the points I’ve mentioned and welcome all the help they can receive. It’s not about being right; it’s about being truly healthy.

Let me know what you think…do you know of relevant cases? Have a similar opinion or a different one? Post a comment below.  I’d love to hear from you.

- Matthew