Emotional Issues and Cancer

Does emotional staus affect health and lead to an increased risk of cancer? Can improving your emotional health improve your ability to get well? It might be good to consider if there is a difference between grief and the internalizing of emotions?

The Cancer Personality: Its Importance in Healing, by W. Douglas Brodie, MD. We have seen this type of situation in some cancer patients. Does this apply to YOU? It is worth reading.

Self-reported stress levels predict subsequent breast cancer in a cohort of Swedish women. and Stress raises breast cancer risk. "Stress doubles a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, scientists have found."

Child cancers increase mothers' risk. Mothers of children who have cancer are more likely to develop breast cancer themselves, researchers have found.

Exercise increases survival of breast cancer patients Up to a 50 percent increase in survival was noted.

This study indicates a weak link to an icnreased risk of cancer:
Cancer Incidence in Parents who Lost a Child: A Nationwide Study in Denmark. "The current data suggest that the death of a child was associated with a slightly increased overall cancer risk in mothers and that the increase may be related to stress-induced adverse life styles." (Digressing some, have you seen the movie Lorenzo's Oil? Lorenzo's mother died of lung cancer at the age of 61.)

Countering that Denmark study is another Denmark study: Psychological stress may play a role in the development of MS. "Psychological stress may play a role in the development of MS. "

Myocardial Infarction in Parents Who Lost a Child, A Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study in Denmark "The death of a child was associated with an increased risk of MI in bereaved parents."

Personality and the Risk of Cancer. Personality types are not related to cancer incidence: Supported by Personality Factors and Breast Cancer Risk: A 13-Year Follow-up "None of the personality factors were statistically significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer"