Breast cancer: long-term stress relief

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MunichThe knowledge that you have a life-threatening illness creates massive fears and thus great stress. With targeted mental strategies, cancer patients manage to keep stress in check - many years after they have learned the techniques for stress reduction.

Breast cancer patients who received a ten-week course on stress reduction shortly after the tumor had been removed felt much better psychologically than a control group up to 15 years later. They suffered less from depressive symptoms and had a significantly better quality of life overall.

Relax in a targeted manner

At the beginning of the study, the main aim was to make it easier for women to cope with the acutely stressful situation. As part of anti-stress training, they learned, on the one hand, to relax in a targeted manner - with the help of progressive muscle relaxation and relaxing imagination exercises.

In addition, she received instruction in groups on cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM). This includes strategies such as recognizing and changing negative thoughts or rationally reassessing the current situation. In role play, they also practiced communicating better about their illness and getting the necessary social support. The participants in the control group, on the other hand, only attended a one-day information day on breast cancer.

Originally 240 breast cancer patients took part in the study. At that time, the researchers were able to detect significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in them. After an average of eleven years, 100 of the test subjects at the time took part in the follow-up examinations.

Controlled fear

"The techniques learned also help to better deal with the fears of a return of the disease," explains study leader Jamie Stagl from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In this respect, it can be explained that the mood and quality of life of the trained women were better than in the control group. Overall, they showed 63 percent fewer depressive symptoms and a 58 percent better overall quality of life.

In addition, the researchers speculate that the anti-stress training could also have a positive effect on the chances of survival. Study author Michael Antoni from the University of Miami says: "Depressive symptoms are related to messenger and inflammatory substances that can promote the progression of cancer." (Cf)

Source: Jamie M. Stagl MS: Long-term psychological benefits of cognitive-behavioral stress management for women with breast cancer: 11-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial; Cancer; 23 MAR 2015; DOI: 10.1002 / cncr.2907.

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