by P Henry. section 8 Psychosocial Interventions for Cancer
There are many cancer therapies using human participation[1] worth examining. Limited space allows us a few which have more clinical evidence[2].
Han Seyle[3], an endocrinologist, first use the concept stress to describe ‘disrupted human homeostasis’. These symptoms were “independent of the nature of the damaging agent”[4] and followed patterns separate from them. His ‘stress response’ or a ‘general adaptation syndrome’ – occurred when one was not adequately protected, leading to depletion and exhaustion of their resources. Illnesses developed or worsened.
Arron Antonofsky followed Seyle’s findings about stress amplifying illness. He focused on how differently people reacted and dealt with their illnesses[5]. It was about how people became and stayed well. The dominant theories in medicine used pathogenic terms that were directed to ‘having a specific stimulus creating an illness.’ For an identified disease one searched for a ‘magic bullet’ to provide the one cure. This resisted possibilities of multiple causation and favoured medications or surgical procedures. Accepting the many variable affecting factors like poverty, class, accidents, microbiological & genetic factors, etc, allowed ways of perceiving and coping to be seen as part of illnesses. Illness is an ongoing part of life requiring human participation.
Antonovsky proved how improved health resulted from how one’s available resources dealt with one’s perceived dangers.
He developed the concepts involving human participation in a Sense of Coherence (SoC). SoC required: 1) Comprehensibility – having an understanding of your illness; 2) Manageability – believing you have usable resources and skills to deal with the illness; 3) Meaningfulness – that your life is interesting and worthwhile enough to try to get a positive outcome. You would use your general and specific resources to help avoid stressors, diminish threats of illness and maintain a positive course of treatment. While the sources of SoC came from life experiences and individualised cultural attitudes, new methods could be learned. Applied to cancer[6] SoC reduced stress, provided a stronger mental state to deal with cancer burdens and made better use of treatments.
Working three decades later, Kelly Turner[7] followed similar patterns. She interviewed over 1,500 people with serious or terminal illnesses including cancers, who had successful radical remissions. They used methods considered inadequate by medical theories to cure their illness. Turner accumulated their experiences and grouped them into 10 categories showing how they recovered. These included: 1) having a strong reason for living; 2) refusing passivity in treatment and taking control your health, i.e. empowerment; 3) following your intuition, having inner guidance; 4) diet changes; 5) using herbs and supplements; 6)releasing suppressed emotions; 7) increasing positive emotion; 8) embracing your social supports and receiving love and caring; 9) fostering inner awakening & ‘spiritual’ connections; 10) regular exercises & outdoor activities. All people did not necessarily do all of these things and had, in different contexts, different emphasis on the techniques they practised. The details of these were shown, with specific treatments used, in her books and continued in online reports and services[8].
Various others used case studies and personal experiences as proof. Medical doctors Lissa Rankin[9] ,Gabor Maté[10] and Jeff Rediger[11], used clinical evidence. Rankin highlighted the power of an individual in getting healthy and had six steps[12]. One’s social environment was an issue as well. Maté emphasised childhood development and trauma and our social norms as sources of illnesses.
Many others described different ways of dealing with cancer, pitfalls of its experiences[13], or ways of accepting it[14] to reduce stress and improve outcomes. Importantly these practices often differentiated between having successful treatment, achieving a cure, and experiencing healing. This usually involved individualised solutions where the person changed who they thought they were or how they were described by others. They altered their behaviour, expectations and ways of participation in society, to create their treatments.
[1] The Cure Within. (2008) Anne Harrington
[2] Clinical trials dominate this paper, qualitative and quantitative involve human interventions yet … there is more to the placebo effect than positive thinking. 22July24) H E LeWine. Health Pub. Alternative & Integrative Health. Placebo and nocebo effects and mechanisms associated with pharmacological interventions: an umbrella review. (2023) E Frisaldi et al. BMJ. Open-label placebo reduces fatigue in cancer survivors: a randomized trial. (Jun19) ES Zhou et al. Sup Care Can 27(6). Op cit. (2008) Anne Harrington
[3] The Stress of Life. (1956) H Selye. Stress and disease. (7Oct55) H Seyle. Science. 122.
[4] A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents. (4Jul1936) H Selye. Nature 136.
[5] Social and Cultural Factors in Coronary Disease…. (1971)A Antonofsky. Israel J of Med Sci. Health, stress, and coping. (1979), A Antonofsky. Unraveling the Mystery of Health. (1987) A Antonofsky
[6] Cancer patients’ sense of coherence …. (7Oct24) N Cecon-Stabel et al. Health Psychol Rep12(4). Sense of coherence and its relationship to participation, cancer-related fatigue, symptom burden …. (5Mar20) A E Hiensch et al. Sup Care Can. 28(11). Relationship of sense of coherence to stressful events… with breast cancer. (22Jan13) E Kenne Sarenmalm et al. Psychooncology 22(1).
[7] Spontaneous Remission of Cancer: Theories from Healers, Physicians, and Cancer Survivors. (2010) K Turner. UC Berkeley Theses. Radical Remission. (2014) K Turner. Radical Hope (2020) K Turner, T White.
[8] https://radicalremissionpodcast.podbean.com/
[9] Mind Over Medicine. (2014) Lissa Rankin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcai0i2tJt0
[10] When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. (2003) G. Maté. The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture. G & D Maté.
[11] Cured (2021) J Rediger.
[12] Rankin, above: 1) believing that healing is possible, 2) connecting and surrendering to your inner pilot; 3) surrounding yourself with healing support; 4) diagnosing the root causes of your illness; 5) writing the prescriptions for yourself; 6) treating your fears and resistance.
[13] Coping with the Emotional Impact of Cancer. (2009) Neil A. Fiore. Living with Cancer. (2017) V Hunter. Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life. (2009) D Servan-Schreiber. Finding the “CAN” in Cancer. (2009) N Emerson et al.
[14] (ACT) Acceptance and commitment therapy in adult cancer survivors…. (19Sept20) A Mathew et al. J Cancer Surviv. 15(3).
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