Alternative Cancer Treatment
Today, many psychologists feel that psychological therapy can give cancer patients’ a longer life. The first to take this stance was Psychiatrist David Spiegel M.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine, in a 1989 study Spiegel gathered patients once a week to discuss there feelings about the cancer and here they received support from other cancer sufferers. “When Spiegel followed up a decade later, he discovered that patients who had participated in the sessions had survived an average of 18 months longer than those in the control group” (Clay,2000). It is felt that if you can tap into a patients mind and help them deal with the cancer by dealing in the mental aspect of it that it will be beneficial to that patient in the long run. Cancer takes a large toll on your body as well as your mind, so if the physical aspect is challenging, the psychological aspect something that a patient should try to excel at like mind over body. Although many cancer patients use this treatment it is not absolutely sure it will lengthen the life span. But the story of Kip Little will beg to differ. Kip, was a cancer patient who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986 and was supposed to be dead a decade ago. After, Kip went through her mastectomy; she met a psychologist at the Ontario Cancer Institute and began working with him and other cancer patients . They patients would gather there to talk about their feelings, practice ways of relaxing and find ways to cope with their pain and any other problems. Then in 1990, cancer returned to Kip, and she was given only a short time to live. Instead of physical treatment, Kip used the relaxing techniques and similar exercises for the mind. Using all these techni...
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...ink you would see a large survival rate or life span. The only problem with these theories of the use of psychological therapy is that there is truly no way to know how these treatments help the patient, because there is no machine or medicine to measure the success of the therapy being given. Whether or not you can have conclusive evidence that these types of therapies are beneficial, they need to be into heavy consideration when approaching a cancer victim, because they might just save that patients life.
Bibliography:
Clay, Rebecca A. (2000) Mind Over Cancer. Psychology Today Online-Features March 2000
Rabasca, Laura (1999) Imagery, Massage and Relaxation recognized as ways to manage pain. APA Online Magazine Volume 30 #10 November 1999. www.apa.org
Walters, Richard (1993) Options: The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book. Diamond Head Press, (1-115)
DiStasio states in her article that yoga has the root meaning of bind and join. She also states that yoga is used as a “union of mind, body, and spirit.” She explains that yoga could possibly be used as a complementary therapy for cancer patients, which will help the patients find their awareness of breath, they can seek relaxation during yoga meetings while also getting light exercise into their schedules and they are surrounded by people who can socially support them while understanding what they are going through. In another study conducted by Laurien M. Buffart and her affiliations, thirteen Randomized Controlled Trials were done and were focused on patients with lymphomas and breast cancer. Patients were put in yoga sessions, taught by experienced yoga instructors that involved physical poses, breathing techniques, and meditation. Patients were in sessions for thirty minutes before chemotherapy once every ten days. The results of their study showed that yoga does have beneficial effects on patient’s physical and psychosocial symptoms. I believe this study truly showed that we underestimate the psyche of patients that are being brought to the near brink of death just to live, and that something as calming and nurturing as practicing yoga can have small and large effects on these patients. Their study found changes in the patient’s stress, anxiety, depression and fatigue levels. These areas improved from a range of 22 to 89
When it comes to a bad diagnosis it is often difficult for doctors to tell their patients this devastating news. The doctor will likely hold back from telling the patient the whole truth about their health because they believe the patient will become depressed. However, Schwartz argues that telling the patient the whole truth about their illness will cause depression and anxiety, but rather telling the patient the whole truth will empower and motivate the patient to make the most of their days. Many doctors will often also prescribe or offer treatment that will likely not help their health, but the doctors do so to make patients feel as though their may be a solution to the problem as they are unaware to the limited number of days they may have left. In comparison, people who are aware there is no cure to their diagnosis and many choose to live their last days not in the hospital or pain free from medications without a treatment holding them back. They can choose to live their last days with their family and will have more time and awareness to handle a will. Schwartz argues the importance of telling patients the truth about their diagnosis and communicating the person’s likely amount of time left as it will affect how the patient chooses to live their limited
Liosso, C, & White, P. (2001). Efficacy of Clinical Hypnosis In the Enhancement of Life of Terminally Ill Cancer Patients. Contemporary Hypnosis, 18(3), 145-.
Institute of Medicine Report from the Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care and Education. (2011). Relieving Pain in America A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education and Research. Retrieved from http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?records_13172
Assessing and managing pain is an inevitable part of nursing and the care of patients. Incomplete relief of pain remains prevalent despite years of research due to barriers such as lack of kn...
Touch is as essential to a healthy and happy life as eating right, getting proper sleep, and exercising. With the world growing more technological, the need for healthy human contact is more important than ever. Massage and body therapies are an age old healing refuge for us in this fast-paced, stressed-out world. The practice of massage therapy is rapidly growing in the United States. It has so much to offer and is becoming more widely accepted by doctors and the general public. Massage is touching another person by such movements as rubbing, kneading, pressing, rolling, slapping, and tapping. This type of therapy provides circulation of the blood and lymph, relaxation of muscles, relief from pain, restoration of metabolic balance, and many other benefits both physical and mental. There is much historical evidence to indicate that massage is one of the earliest remedies for pain relief and for the restoration of a healthy body. It is said to be the most natural and instinctive means of relieving pain and discomfort. Massage has proven to be an effective method for treating many conditions for thousands of years and it will continue to be used for thousands of years to come. Massage therapy is a great treatment for the body and soul.
This statement is very true. When someone is diagnosed with cancer it starts a journey down a road that no one wants to travel on. In recent years, there have been countless trials and tests to find a cure for this terrible disease but none have been entirely successful. There are treatments on the market that can help and slow down the process, but they have various side effects that aren’t quite appealing. The best treatments in todays world include; Rituxan, Avastin, Revlimid, and Gleevec. They all have a different tasks and developments that take affects in the body but each remarkable in its own way.
Cancer. The word by itself can conjure images of severely ill and frail people attached to IV medications and chemotherapy drugs as they cling to life in a hospital bed. Other illustrations and pictures depict unrecognizable, misshaped organs affected by abnormal cells that grow out of control, spread, and invade other parts of the body. Cancer studies show that close to one-half of all men and one-third of all women in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer during their lives. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or have had cancer. As patients are newly diagnosed with their specific type of cancer, whether it be breast, lung, prostate, skin, or blood cancer, etc., each patient has to consider what will happen with their future health care plan and who will be involved in their long journey from treatment to recovery. Once diagnosed, cancer patients become the focal point and the center of all activity in terms of care but cancer not only physically invades the patient’s body and well-being, it goes beyond the patient and significantly affects the emotional stability and support from from their loved ones and caregivers. Based on the insidious nature of cancer and typically late detection of malignant diseases, family members (either spouses, children, parents, other relatives, and friends) often become the patient's main caregiver. These caregivers, also known as informal caregivers, provide the cancer patient with the majority of the support outside of the medical facility or hospital environment and become the primary person to provide various types of assistance. They provide the physical support with bathing and assisting in activities of daily living, they become emotional ...
Almost everyone is touched by cancer in some way and the number of people living with and beyond cancer grows greater every year. Globally 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year and 8 million people will die from it annually. Half of all men and one-third of all women will develop cancer during their lifetime. (13) There are many treatments for cancer, mainly: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. These traditional treatments have many negative side effects. Therefore, increasingly, other treatments, such as hormonal therapy and targeted therapy are being used for certain cancers. Nanotechnology is a form of targeted therapy that destroys cancer tumors with minimal damage to healthy tissues and organs. Scientists are already using nanotechnology in early detection of elimination of cancer cells before they form tumors. But the real game changer will be when nanotechnology targets cancer tumors in treatment (11,13).
Conclusions. An adequate and clear understanding of the concept of pain and implementing interventions of pain treatment and management is essential in the clinical settings. Understanding the concept of pain is necessary for its relationships with other concepts that are related and similar to the pain experience for theory building. The in the end, understanding the concept of pain will ultimately benefit the patient and lead to better and approp...
Tacon, Anna. “Meditation as a Complementary Therapy in Cancer,” Family and Community Health. Vol. 26, Issue 1. pp63-73, January – March, 2003. Web. 18 May 2015.
through the Eyes of a Participant Observer." Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. Vol. 20, No. 1, 19 Jan. 2012, p. 1. EBSCOhost. 2017 October 25.
Marion Good, PhD, RN, has focused her study, “A Middle-Range Theory of Acute pain Management: Use in Research,” on complementary medicine for pain and stress, acute pain, and stress immunity. The purpose of this theory is to put into practice guidelines for pain management. Good, 1998, noted the need for a balance between medication usage and side effects of pain medications. The theory also promoted patient education related to pain management following surgery and encouraged plan development for acceptable levels of pain management. This theory was developed through deductive reasoning. Chinn & Kramer, 2008, defined deductive reasoning as going from a general concept to a more specific concept. Good, 1998, related that there was a balance between analgesia and side effects in which two outcomes can be deduced: (1) a decrease in pain, and (2) a decrease in side effects. These outcomes can be studied further or more detailed concepts can be deduced from them.
...e the cancer and look for the positives in the prognosis and treatment find encouragement for the future. There are various models and theories such as health belief model that are used to explain ones belief on risks and associated risks of a chronic illness and then there are theories such as Crisis theory when dealing with shock when diagnosed with a chronic illness and gate control theory when looking at pain and the psychological issues around dealing with pain. However even with various theories and models trying to explain crisis, pain and compliance to treatment the outcome and understanding and ultimately the way an individual deals with a chronic illness such a breast cancer falls very much down to self-efficacy and the belief the individual holds towards the illness itself the attitude and perception in the outcome of the illness, treatment and beyond.