Stress and cancer: The state of the art Part 1

PsychosomaticsPublished 1 December 1980

Claus Bahne Bahnson

Citations66

TL;DR

The author surveys the literature and provides an illustrative case report to support his hypothesis that development of a personality marked by self-containment precedes cancer, which may involve somatic (cellular)“regression.”

Abstract

Although it has been repeatedly recognized from antiquity that melancholy and grief may precede the development of cancer, a body of evidence has now accumulated of a common personal background and personality makeup in many cancer patients. A recurrent theme is a feeling of loneliness and hope lessness stemming from the lack of a protected and loving childhood. Such persons harbor chronic underlying feelings of depletion, emptiness, and resentment because they are unloved. Development of a personality marked by self-containment, in hibition, rigidity, repression, and regression precedes cancer, which may involve somatic (cellular)"regression." The author surveys the literature and provides an illustrative case report to support his hypothesis.

Keywords

MedicineArts and Humanities

Annals of Internal MedicineStress Without Distress.

2,115 Citations1974Hans Selye

JAMAPsychological Coping Mechanisms and Survival Time in Metastatic Breast Cancer

489 Citations1979Leonard R. Derogatis

The long-term survivors were more symptomatic overall, with particular elevations on measures of anxiety and alienation, and substantially higher levels of dysphoric mood (eg, depression, guilt) than the short- term survivors.

ScienceMouse Mammary Tumors: Alteration of Incidence as Apparent Function of Stress

218 Citations1975Vernon Riley

The data suggest that moderate chronic or intermittent stress may predispose such mice to an increased risk of mammary carcinoma, possibly through a resultant compromise of their immunological competence or tumor surveillance system, and that adequate protection from physiological stress may reduce mammary tumor occurrence in mice.

Child DevelopmentA PARENT-CHILD RELATIONS QUESTIONNAIRE1

181 Citations1963Anne Roe, Marvin Siegelman

The Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire (PCR) was devised to obtain a measure of the characteristic behavior of parents towards their young children, as experienced by the child.

Psychosomatic MedicineThe Affect of Hopelessness and the Development of Cancer

129 Citations1966Arthur H. Schmale, Howard P. Iker

The so‐called predisposition as well as psychological factors found by other investigators to differentiate women with cervical cancer from women with other forms of cancer or “no cancer” did not differentiate between the subjects in the present study.

Psychosomatic MedicineFamily Attitudes Reported in Youth as Potential Predictors of Cancer

106 Citations1979Caroline Bedell Thomas, Karen Rose Duszynski +1 more

In long‐term prospective study of a cohort of former medical students, men who later developed cancer reported different family attitudes in youth from those of their healthy classmates, and findings appear to fit with those of retrospective studies concerning early family relationships in cancer patients.

Psychosomatic MedicinePsychological Factors and Reticuloendothelial Disease

95 Citations1954William A. Greene

It is suggested that pathological activity of the reticuloendothelial system may occur as part of a reaction to psychological stresses, which may help to clarify the nature of these disorders.

Psychosomatic MedicinePsychological Factors and Reticuloendothelial Disease

86 Citations1956William A. Greene, Lawrence E. Young +1 more

It is considered that one of the multiple conditions determining development of lymphoma and leukemia in adults may be separation from a key object or goal with ensuing depression.

Psychosomatic MedicinePsychosocial Risk Factors for Lung Cancer

79 Citations1979Rachel Horne, R Picard

Significant psychosocial risk factors for the development of malignant disease might well be incorporated in selecting high‐risk individuals for cytological or other screening for lung cancer.

Psychosomatic MedicinePsychosomatic Aspects of Cancer

73 Citations1959George M. Perrin, Irene R. Pierce

Specific suggestions are made for future research in this field, specifically in regard to the selection of cancer patients, the nature of control groups, thenature of measuring instruments, terminology, and statistical analysis.