Improve the Physical and Psychological State of Breast Cancer Survivors with Mindfulness
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“A brief mindfulness-based intervention has a positive short-term effect on psychological and behavioral measures as well as proinflammatory signal markers in younger breast cancer survivors,” – Joyce O’Shaughnessy
About 12.5% of women in the U.S. develop invasive breast cancer over their lifetimes and every year about 40,000 women die. Indeed, more women in the U.S. die from breast cancer than from any other cancer, besides lung cancer. Breast cancer diagnosis, however, is not a death sentence. It is encouraging that the death rates have been decreasing for decades from improved detection and treatment of breast cancer. Five-year survival rates are now at around 95%.
The improved survival rates mean that more women are now living with cancer. Surviving cancer, however, carries with it a number of problems. “Physical, emotional, and financial hardships often persist for years after diagnosis and treatment. Cancer survivors are also at greater risk for developing second cancers and other health conditions.” (National Cancer Survivors Day). In addition, breast cancer survivors can have to deal with a heightened fear of reoccurrence, and an alteration of their body image.
Mindfulness training has been shown to help with cancer recovery and help to alleviate many of the residual physical and psychological symptoms, including stress, sleep disturbance, and anxiety and depression.. Indeed, yoga practice has been found to improve sleep quality and memory, reduce the side effects from chemotherapy, relieve neuromuscular symptoms, and improve the quality of life in cancer survivors. Also, Tai Chi or Qigong practice has been shown to improve quality of life, reduce fatigue, and lower blood pressure and cortisol levels.
Hence various practices that have the common property of improving mindfulness, are able to relieve symptoms in breast cancer survivors. It is possible that they have a common mechanism of action. In today’s Research News article “A Systematic Review of Spiritually Based Interventions and Psychoneuroimmunological Outcomes in Breast Cancer Survivorship.” See:
or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5125023/
Hulett and colleagues review the published research literature to explore whether psychoneuroimmunological factors may be the mechanism by which these various practices relieve the residual symptoms after breast cancer survival. They included all studies regardless of the type of mindfulness practice, including mindfulness, meditation, yoga, tai chi or qigong practices, that studied breast cancer survivors and included measures of mental influences on the brain and immune system. By far the most frequently used practice was Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
The found that the literature reports that mindfulness practices produce improvements in breast cancer survivors in the psychological symptoms of quality of life, depression, stress, anxiety, fatigue, and mood. In regards to psychoneuroimmunological factors, they found that the literature reports that mindfulness practices produce reductions in breast cancer survivors in cortisol levels, a marker if stress and inflammation, and some studies report preservations of DNA telomeres, a marker of cellular aging. They also found that MBSR was reported to improve inflammatory cytokine activity, improve lymphocyte function, improve or stabilize cortisol levels, and increase or preserve telomere activity.
Hence the research literature has found extensive and positive psychological and psychoneuroimmunological effects of mindfulness practices on breast cancer survivors. The association of psychoneuroimmunological effects with the psychological benefits of the practices is striking and suggests that there may be links between the two, but causation cannot be conclusively determined. But, nevertheless, mindfulness practices appear to both improve psychological health and also the body’s ability to withstand stress and reduce inflammation. These are very positive benefits that suggest that mindfulness practices are a safe and effective treatment for breast cancer survivors. It remains for future research to investigate possible causal connections.
So, improve the physical and psychological state of breast cancer survivors with mindfulness.
“Mindfulness meditation seems to help breast cancer patients better manage symptoms of fatigue, anxiety and fear of recurrence.” – Kathleen Doheny
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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Study Summary
Hulett, J. M., & Armer, J. M. (2016). A Systematic Review of Spiritually Based Interventions and Psychoneuroimmunological Outcomes in Breast Cancer Survivorship. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 15(4), 405–423. http://doi.org/10.1177/1534735416636222
Abstract
Objective: This is a review of spiritually based interventions (eg, mindfulness-based stress reduction) that utilized psychoneuroimmunological (PNI) outcome measures in breast cancer survivors. Specifically, this review sought to examine the evidence regarding relationships between spiritually based interventions, psychosocial-spiritual outcomes, and biomarker outcomes in breast cancer survivors.
Methods: A systematic search of 9 online databases was conducted for articles of original research, peer-reviewed, randomized and nonrandomized control trials from 2005–2015. Data were extracted in order to answer selected questions regarding relationships between psychosocial-spiritual and physiological measures utilized in spiritually based interventions. Implications for future spiritually based interventions in breast cancer survivorship are discussed.
Results: Twenty-two articles were reviewed. Cortisol was the most common PNI biomarker outcome studied. Compared with control groups, intervention groups demonstrated positive mental health outcomes and improved or stable neuroendocrine-immune profiles, although limitations exist. Design methods have improved with regard to increased use of comparison groups compared with previous reviews. There are few spiritually based interventions that specifically measure religious or spiritual constructs. Similarly, there are few existing studies that utilize standardized religious or spiritual measures with PNI outcome measures. Findings suggest that a body of knowledge now exists in support of interventions with mindfulness-breathing-stretching components; furthermore, these interventions appear to offer potential improvement or stabilization of neuroendocrine-immune activity in breast cancer survivors compared to control groups.
Conclusion: From a PNI perspective, future spiritually based interventions should include standardized measures of religiousness and spirituality in order to understand relationships between and among religiousness, spirituality, and neuroendocrine-immune outcomes. Future research should now focus on determining the minimum dose and duration needed to improve or stabilize neuroendocrine-immune function, as well as diverse setting needs, including home-based practice for survivors who are too ill to travel to group sessions or lack economic resources.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5125023/