1. I urge everyone who has any kind of lump, breat pain, anything...don't take it likely and get to a doctor to have it checked. My sister just lost her best friend to breast cancer. Lisa was 39. Lisa was diagnosed in the 7 month of pregnancy. They ended up taking the baby early but decided it was too late for Lisa. Lisa died when the baby was 6 weeks old. So please have anything suspicious checked right away.

Posted at 6:00PM on Oct 19th 2006 by sarah

2. The Carcinosin personality type has been long-documented within Homeopathy and other alternative therapies. It is no surprise however that mainstream medicine is finally 'discovering' wisdoms long held in other quarters. The mainstream is slowly coming around to the idea of heredity, childhood and lifestyle (and they way in which they intertwine) being the key to dis-ease. Perhaps they will next 'discover' that the Carcinosin personality type is created in childhood under the influence of domineering or oppressive parenting and built upon in adolescence and early adulthood through reinforcement of these experiences. That their natural expression and exuberance becomes suppressed as a result of this. I doubt however that they will ever 'discover' that the interventions of mainstream medicine compound this theme of suppression through use of excessive antibiotics, ant-pyrotic analgesics and childhood immunisations. That would be biting the hand that feeds such 'seminal' research wouldn't it?

Posted at 12:35PM on Oct 20th 2006 by Vicky Walker

3. seems a no brainer to me. Fear = stress, which sets off a plethora of chemical reactions in the body. If one is constantly fearful, the body never equalizes. I don't think one has to look too far for a connection.

However, it's really easy to get into a "blame the victim" mentality when correlating mental states with disease. Telling someone to be less fearful is like telling her not to think about a purple cow...easier said than done.

It's great that we are finding the connections between mental & physical (i mean, the brain, after all, IS physical), but, the body is way too complex to apply a pure cause/effect paradigm to anything.

Posted at 12:07PM on Oct 21st 2006 by Lorien

4. Carcinosin personality? The last thing a patient with breast cancer needs is guilt over her disease. I call it "blame the patient," which at best is not helpful, at worst injurious to the patient.

Needless to say, it's ridiculous to extrapolate from rats to humans, especially in a situation as complex as this.

Posted at 1:00PM on Oct 22nd 2006 by Doug Hoffman, MD

5. Exactly, Dr. Hoffman. One needs to be very careful when reading "studies" of this nature.

This is the ol' Louise Hay method of blaming the patient for her cancer, AIDS, etc. It's wrong and not helpful at all for the cancer patient.

One good thing about the internet. Peolple like yourself can respond rapidly to this very harmful information.

Posted at 10:52PM on Oct 22nd 2006 by Maria

6. As one living with metastatic breast cancer...speaking on behalf of those of us living with this disease we don't need one more reason to blame others or blame ourselves for having breast cancer. Guilt? Fear? What did I eat? What did I do or didn't do? There's plenty second guessing to go around! But please...a personality that corresponds to having BC?? Anyone who lives with it knows from others in his or her sphere of contacts that BC crosses all boundaries and personalities...from organic only vegetarians to excessive personalities...exercisers/unfit....old and young. You get the idea. I don't buy it.

Posted at 12:22PM on Oct 25th 2006 by paige

7. Sometimes these "tests" drive me crazy. I'm a thyroid cancer survivor, but this post struck a chord. It can be so discouraging for cancer patients to constantly hear that "all they have to do is have a positive attitude." It can create a real emotional burden to feel that you're doing something wrong, or injurious, by being unable to magically ignore the pain, mortal worries, financial disasters and relationship woes that having cancer can engender. And this when things are bad enough already. I would LOVE to hear from a lab rat that couldn't afford its specialist because he was out of network, or whose mate abandoned her because he couldn't take the stress of sharing the cage with a cancer patient. Besides, I imagine that by the time someone is diagnosed with cancer, his or her personality and the way they deal with stress are pretty much firmly established already. I know it's logical that stress exacerbates illness, but many of the patients I've encountered over the years find it far more stressful to feel constantly obligated to paste on a smile like the survivors you see on insurance company commercials and celebrity testimonials. From my own experience staying positive--or appearing to--is as much for the people around the patient as it is for the patient. That said, putting on the "brave face" increases the likelihood that the people around you will smile back rather than turn their backs. In some respects, tests and studies can only go so far, because cancer is such a personal thing... when it happens to you.

Posted at 7:53AM on Oct 29th 2006 by Richard Day Gore

8. The notion of a cancer-prone personality -- capable of self-healing with psychological gymnastics that include visualization, laughter and excessive optimism -- is unproven and may represent nothing more than elaboration of the old folklore. Unfortunately, cancer sufferers who believe this and fail to cure themselves may wind up with the added psychological burden of thinking that for some mysterious reason, they really don't want to be cured.

Not only that, the evidence that support benefits cancer prognosis doesn't exist either. You will see written that if you stay positive, you're prognosis is better. This is false. They have it backwards. If you are sicker and have a worse prognosis, you are more likely to NOT have a positive attitude. The cause and effect is backwards.

Why this incorrect information continues to be given to cancer patients is beyond me. It's harmful. When studies are quoted on the internet, the writers have an obligation to tell the whole story.

Posted at 11:16AM on Oct 29th 2006 by Jim

9. While sitting in the waiting room, awating results from a post-cancer screening and worrying not only about those results but about how the disease had taken every cent I'd earned (and would earn for years, because I had no insurance), and about how it was interfering with my being able to do, therefore hold, my job, I picked up a magazine that had an article about a study like this. I almost laughed out loud. But then I actually read the article and lo and behold, it supported the theory that keeping a "positive attitude" has no measurable impact... and that feeling obligated to "be positive" can indeed add a difficult psychological burden to an already rotten situation. It was a real breath of fresh air. IMO you're not going to be able to keep a positive attitude unless that is what your already-established personality predisposes you to do. Maybe some sage should teach a course for parents, "How to Raise a Potential Future Cancer Patient Who Has a Positive Attitude."

Posted at 8:09AM on Nov 11th 2006 by Richard Day Gore

10. I am sorry but to approach any new finding (correct or not) with "i do not want to be blamed" therefore I do not believe in it does not make much sense.
It is not a matter of such preference... who knows maybe there is some truth to it? Why not investigate it more and thus maybe give yourself a better chance to fight it?

Bea

Posted at 4:40PM on Nov 22nd 2006 by Bea