Cancer and Emotions: A Recent Study Finds That There is No Connection

''A fighting spirit has its advantages, but one of them is not, apparently, cancer survival,'' said James C. Coyne, lead author of a study from the University of Pennsylvania in which more than 1,000 patients with head and neck cancer were followed. ''We looked at whether exceptionally high emotional well-being or exceptionally low emotional well-being had an effect. We found absolutely no evidence for either.'' They conclude that the power of the mind has been overestimated in the fight against cancer. One commentator added that cancer patients can feel relieved that their negative feelings are not culpable, and that they should not feel responsible for their cancer.

I have lived on both sides of this debate. I certainly want no responsibility for having caused my pain syndrome, but I do want to believe that my emotions, one of the realms in which I can exert some control, can influence my body. Without that, I feel even more helpless -- a kidnapped passenger on a runaway train bound for darkness.

And if their result is valid -- and applies beyond cancer -- how can I explain those nights when I'm laying in bed bent double with pain, clutching a heating pad like it's a life preserver, diving deeper into the pain/fear/constriction/pain cycle - and I ask Richard to stroke my hair and rest his hand on my forehead. That simple act brings me to a different realm of feeling where I am soothed, comforted, connected. I bring that state back to the pain and tell it -"So there! What are you gonna do now?" And not always, but often, it's the pain that cringes and weakens, not me