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Daily Dose: Positive Attitude, Cancer Survival

Aired February 09, 2004 - 11:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Can a positive attitude improve your chances of surviving cancer? Conventional wisdom says, yes, it can. But there's a new study out that is challenging that idea.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has details in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, how much does being optimistic actually affect your outcome with regards to cancer? Well, a lot of conventional wisdom would suggest quite a bit. In fact, there were a lot of studies in the late '80s and early '90s, observational studies, looking at attitude and outcome of cancer.

Well, some researchers in Australia actually decided to put it to the test now. They looked 179 patients with a very aggressive form of lung cancer. It's called non-small cell lung cancer; 171 of those patients died within five years, 96 percent.

And they reached some conclusions after looking at this study, very interesting, talking specifically about optimism and attitude. First of all, found that no evidence that optimism was actually related to survival in lung cancer patients. First point.

The second point, even more interesting in some ways, was than encouraging patients to be positive may be an additional burden. An obvious question was: Why would being positive be an additional burden? And a lot of oncologists weighed in on this particular topic.

And again, the study authors also talking about why being optimistic might, in fact, not only not be helpful, but possibly maybe hurtful.

Take a look here. Optimism, first of all, is not a form of treatment. Everybody knows that. They recognize that. But if it's done in lieu of treatment that could potentially be a problem.

Also, patients feel guilty that they're not doing enough. Here's the case scenario. Patient has an aggressive form of cancer. They're trying to do all of the right things. They're trying to be positive, but their course is still heading southward, not in the direction they would like. All of a sudden, they start to feel guilty that they're not being optimistic enough, and that can be a burden.

And finally, it can get to the point where patients, in fact, start to deprive themselves of doing things that are useful, including seeking treatment to things like that.

A lot of doctors obviously are going to agree and disagree on this particular topic. One doctor says patients should always hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Is there no benefit to being optimistic? Probably not. There are certainly always benefits. It may have to do with your quality of your life in your last few months or your last few years. But it's important to remember for those patients who are being optimistic about their cancer treatment that optimism should not be in lieu of treatment. Patients should not deprive themselves and they should not feel guilty if things aren't heading the way they would like.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired February 9, 2004 - 11:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Can a positive attitude improve your chances of surviving cancer? Conventional wisdom says, yes, it can. But there's a new study out that is challenging that idea.
Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has details in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, how much does being optimistic actually affect your outcome with regards to cancer? Well, a lot of conventional wisdom would suggest quite a bit. In fact, there were a lot of studies in the late '80s and early '90s, observational studies, looking at attitude and outcome of cancer.

Well, some researchers in Australia actually decided to put it to the test now. They looked 179 patients with a very aggressive form of lung cancer. It's called non-small cell lung cancer; 171 of those patients died within five years, 96 percent.

And they reached some conclusions after looking at this study, very interesting, talking specifically about optimism and attitude. First of all, found that no evidence that optimism was actually related to survival in lung cancer patients. First point.

The second point, even more interesting in some ways, was than encouraging patients to be positive may be an additional burden. An obvious question was: Why would being positive be an additional burden? And a lot of oncologists weighed in on this particular topic.

And again, the study authors also talking about why being optimistic might, in fact, not only not be helpful, but possibly maybe hurtful.

Take a look here. Optimism, first of all, is not a form of treatment. Everybody knows that. They recognize that. But if it's done in lieu of treatment that could potentially be a problem.

Also, patients feel guilty that they're not doing enough. Here's the case scenario. Patient has an aggressive form of cancer. They're trying to do all of the right things. They're trying to be positive, but their course is still heading southward, not in the direction they would like. All of a sudden, they start to feel guilty that they're not being optimistic enough, and that can be a burden.

And finally, it can get to the point where patients, in fact, start to deprive themselves of doing things that are useful, including seeking treatment to things like that.

A lot of doctors obviously are going to agree and disagree on this particular topic. One doctor says patients should always hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Is there no benefit to being optimistic? Probably not. There are certainly always benefits. It may have to do with your quality of your life in your last few months or your last few years. But it's important to remember for those patients who are being optimistic about their cancer treatment that optimism should not be in lieu of treatment. Patients should not deprive themselves and they should not feel guilty if things aren't heading the way they would like.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.