The age-old split of mind and body may be gradually closing as general medicine is becoming aware of the impact of stress and emotions on health and disease. There is increasing demand and expectation on the part of the public that physicians address the whole person and not just the disease. Given our traditional scientific bias, the issue of seeing the patient as a whole person instead of just the disease will make grappling with this issue not easy. Old habit patterns In thinking are slow to change, particularly in medicine. There are, however, some encouraging signs. One of these is a not so recent presentation in the form of a videotaped speech given by Dr. David Spiegel in California. He is a psychiatrist and Willson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Center on Stress and Health, and Medical Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. In other words, he is extremely well-qualified, more so than most.
The topic of this presentation was mind-body considerations on the issue of stress and cancer, particularly in breast cancer. He demonstrates In detail the role of stress in the origination of cancer, particularly in genetically predisposed patients. He also presents the treatment approaches at the Center for Integrative Medicine which include nutrition, acupuncture, hypnosis, training in mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques and group therapy for breast cancer patients. He demonstrates how these approaches improve the quality of life of cancer patients as well as their life expectancy and survival rates. This is a very interesting presentation that is very positive, comprehensive and will engender hope that treatment modalities are available to the cancer patient in addition to the usual other treatment approaches such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
For anyone so interested the link is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlFaIxTv1_w on the topic of mind by interactions.
The idea behind writing these mini essays is for education and information for the general public, but specifically for patients. It is hoped that you will feel interested in viewing this video presentation which will add to your perspective on mind-body interaction. After you have finished watching it you may have come to the conclusion that psychological approaches such as hypnosis, stress management and the importance of social supports all may also be helpful to you, especially if you are a patient with a cancer diagnosis. Many of the larger hospitals such as Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands as well as individual practitioners in the middle health field have started to offer cancer support groups. How far these go in exploiting all of the helpful modalities possible varies from one hospital to the next.