Happy Cancer Patients

It has often been believed and sometimes taught that cancer patients live longer if they are happier. In other words if a person with cancer has less stress in their lives, they are more likely to live longer. This theory has been contradicted by a new study published in the journal Cancer which says that in the 1,093 patients in the study, there was not a change in the average life expectancy for those who had stress relief and those who did not. This goes against the popularly held belief that people who feel better live longer, even with an incurable disease.
The article was interesting to me for a couple of reasons. The first is that this helps patients who lose to the disease not blame themselves. James Coyne says, “People are told to have a fighting spirit, and if the disease beats them, they think it's their fault”(Gellene). This in some ways makes sense to me, but I hardly see this study as good news for cancer patients. The other interesting point about this is that it is a highly contested issue. People still do not believe this study and think mental well-being is important to physical health. One psychologist offers an idea about the results of the study saying, “If a freight train is coming, it doesn't matter how many people stand in front of it. Nothing is going to stop it” (Gellene). This just shows that in science, there are many different opinions and often times they influence the focus of studies. These studies then give perhaps the wrong impression to the general public. Luckily we don’t have to believe everything we read.