Emotional history and pathogenesis of cancer

Smith, William R.; Sebastian, H

doi:10.1002/1097-4679(197610)32:4<863::aid-jclp2270320429>3.0.co;2-l

Cited by 14 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Hence, this research supported the notion that stress might be a variable in the onset ot cancer. (Smith and Sebastian, 1976) Environmental factors (stress and emotional distress) might also be an aspect in the pathogenesis ot cancer. (Solomon and Am.kraut, 1972) In this section, the importance ot stress as it relates to illness has been examined.…”

Section: Self Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality, counseling and the cancer patient

March¹,

Maxwell²

2000

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ACKNOWLEOOEMENTSIt is our pleasure to take this opportunity to thank those people who supported this research project. Our initial thanks go to Marian Ayarza, one or our advisers, who sparked our interest in this area of counseling with cancer patients. We are thanktul for her many hours of support, professional criticism and guidance. Our other adviser, Nancy Korolofr, also provided us with the expertise we needed in creating, developing, and implementing this research project. With the interest and support o:t Dr. Robert Goldman and his wife, Irma Goldman, we were able to put our ideas into action. We appreciate Marilyn Friedenbach, Sue Vail and Joanne Handson, who assisted in supporting our research. We were extremely stimulated and ple$Sed to have met and worked with those patients or Dr. Goldman who agreed to participate in this study.Our final thanks go to each other ~ we have appreciated the support, encouragement, and interest expressed in one another which has stimulated the growth o:t our friendship. ganization. These cells are a part of the total body which is in a constant state of change-growing and dying, repairing injuries, reproducing, adapting to the environment or .failing to adapt. These cancer cells, however, hinder the normal, healthy process of growth. Depending on the individual, the cancer can overt~e any or all parts of the body and eventually: lead to death.Much study has been done on the different types of cancer cells and the broad spectrum of diseases that actually exist within this diagnosis.V~ous predisposing factors and external influences favoring their de~ velo~ent are being examined. A majority ot those studies are centered around the cellular, viral, immunological and environmental £actors considered in the etiology or cancer. More recently, some research has al.so been done on the relationship of one's personality to the onset ot any neoplasm or new growth.More and more people are being aftected by the growth of cancer cells within their bodies and, hence, are concerned with cures as well as prevention of this life-threatening disease. Cancer kills about 365,000Americans every year. This incidence rises about two percent annually. vates a patient to seek counseling, the easier it will be to develop rehabilitation and supportive programs to meet the needs of cancer patients.Hence, sanction for a research project such as this lies in the fact that the question of motivation regarding adjunctive counseling has not been dealt with specifically in the past. * * In this study the pronoun "he" will be used when the authors intend to imply "he/she". CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A. INTRODUCTIONThe question as to whether or not an individual's personality is related to the onset of cancer has been discussed for centuries. Due to the dominance of the medical model, the discussion had been tabled by the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of the research that exists today is done on the effectiveness of various therapies used to cure the cancer such as chemotherapy or radiat...

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Section: Self Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality, counseling and the cancer patient

March¹,

Maxwell²

2000

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“…Using benign subjects as controls, they were "unable to confirm earlier reports of associations between cancer and such variables as previous stress -particularly loss of a loved person". But when Smith and Sebastian (1976) used a similar open-ended approach in comparing 44 cancer patients with 44 patients with physical abnormalities (which were non-cancerous), they found there were significantly more frequent and intense emotional events prior to diagnosis among cancer patients than among the comparison group. The differences between studies seem to underline the need to be clear about what is and what is not an appropriate control group in this context.…”

Section: The Theme or Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychology and Cancer: An Historical Review of Pre-Morbid Factors with Special Reference to Breast Cancer

Timms¹

1989

The Irish Journal of Psychology

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The literature on pre-morbid aspects of cancer is extensive and varied. However, early observations relating psychological factors and the onset of disease have not be~n clearly supported by later systematic studies in the area of life events and the assessment of personality. This lack of support may be related more to methodological difficulties in the later studies than to faulty observation in the earlier reports. Further research in this area requires carefully designed prospective studies in order to avoid the difficulties associated with cross-sectional and retrospective methodologies . IntroductionThe idea that cancer might be in some way related to psychological factors is nearly as old as medicine itself. Galen's treatise on tumors De Tumoribus claimed that melancholic women were more prone to cancer than those of sanguine temperament (Heuper, 1942). Ray and Baum (1985) reponed that special diets were formulated in the Dark Ages which were designed to prevent the accumulation of black bile. Black bile was considered to be at the root of the melancholia which Galen identified as predisposing women to cancer.This early sensitivity to the relationship between mind (in the form of pcrsonality factors) and body (in the form of neoplastic discase) has survived the dcmise of humoral theory within the framework of which it was conceived and it appears again in the writings of Gendron, an eighteenth century English physician. Gendron (1701) stressed "Disasters of Life, as occasion much trouble and grief' as important factors in cancer. One of his cases makes the point. This concerned a Mrs. Emerson who developed a breast cancer shortly after the dcath of hcr daughter, having previously always enjoyed good health. Latcr in thc same century, Guy (1759) linkcd "hysteric and nervous complaints ... thc dull and heavy phlegmatic and melancholic disposition (and) disasters in lifc" in the aetiology of cancers in women, therehy intcgr.lting

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“…Although it is always difficult to generalize findings from animal studies to humans, the implications of the findings bear serious consideration. Similarly, human patients exhibiting immunologic deficiency and neoplasmic growth implicate the central nervous system as a controlling factor of psychogenesis (Smith & Sebastian, 1976). Thus, host resistence or immunological competence has been shown to be a significant factor in tumor development in both animals and humans when the hypothalamus is affected by stress.…”

Section: Immunological Competencementioning

confidence: 99%