Power of Positive Thinking Questioned

For many years, people diagnosed with various illnesses have been told that their attitude can help combat their disease. Putting on a happy face, the wisdom went, helps defeat cancer and other grim diagnoses. Now a study from Australia disputes the power of positive thinking, at least when it comes to lung cancer.

Researchers at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia followed a group of 179 people who had been diagnosed with small cell lung cancer for five years. SCLC has an overall 15% five year survival rate – a grim statistic. However, researchers have noted that the length of survival varies widely within that five years. Lead researcher Dr. Penelope Schofield and her colleagues decided to study the effects of a positive, optimistic outlook on the length of survival of lung cancer patients.

The 179 people in the study answered questionnaires both before and after their treatment for lung cancer. The questionnaires were designed to measure optimism, and outlook on life. The final results – Schofield and colleagues found no correlation between positive outlook and length of survival in the study patients. Those with positive outlooks on life lived no longer than those who were pessimistic about their chances of survival.

Does this mean that people should abandon maintaining a positive, optimistic outlook? Not at all, Schofield says. A positive outlook most certainly affects the quality of life, if not the quantity of life. Still, she says, she is concerned about the advice to those diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses to ‘put on a happy face’.

There is a heavy social pressure to maintain a positive outlook when faced with a diagnosis of lung cancer or another life-affecting disease. The idea that your outlook and optimism affects the chances of survival carries with it an ‘unintentional implication’ that people who have cancer are responsible for he outcome of their disease. What Schofield fears is that the pressure to remain positive and upbeat in the face of a lung cancer diagnosis may put unintentional stress and pressure on the patient and prevent them from going through the normal grieving stages.

On the other hand, a fatalistic attitude may be just as harmful. There ARE things that a person can do to improve their chances of survival. Those include adopting healthy eating habits, giving up smoking and avoiding contact with cigarette smoke, and getting regular physical activity. A pessimistic belief that nothing will help anyway may keep people from adopting new habits and taking the steps that could very well contribute to their longevity and certainly to their happiness.

What’s the answer? As in most other things, the best solution may lie in balance. Schofield suggests that a supportive atmosphere that allows the patient to express their fears and pessimism without blame may be the best way to go. Jimmie Holland, MD, author of The Human Side of Cancer, agrees. In his article “The Tyranny of Positive Thinking”, Holland says, “If you are surrounded by the "positive attitude police," tell them to get off your case and be realistic.” Holland advocates finding a way of coping that is comfortable for you, and not allowing the beliefs of others to make an already difficult situation even more difficult by burdening you with guilt.