Do Support Groups Extend Life?
04 Aug 2002
Does the power of positive thinking extend life when patients face serious life-threatening disease? Will joining support groups add months or years to life? Will they provide psychological benefit and ease the pain? Or is holding hands with strangers just a lot of hokus pocus?
Numerous studies have shown that focussing the mind on the fight against disease dies work. That it not only improves life, but also extends it.
In 1989 the medical journal, Lancet, reported a study conducted by Dr David Spiegel, a psychiatrist at Stanford University. Patients with advanced breast cancer were randomly treated with standard care or standard care along with a support group.
Dr. Spiegel believed those in the support group would enjoy an increased quality of life. But he and his colleagues doubted they would live any longer. They were wrong. Women who enjoyed the support of others lived 18 months longer.
But one battle does not win a war. Nor is one study sufficient evidence to conclude that holding hands with others invariably extends life.
The 1989 result spurred others to see if they could duplicate these findings. But it ended in a tie. 50 percent showed that support groups work. In the other 50 percent they failed dismally to extend life.
So who is right? Another Canadian study, the largest one to date, helps to end the debate. 255 women with metastatic breast cancer were randomly divided into either a support or non-support group.
The result? Those in the support group suffered less depression and pain. But the grim scientific fact remained that they all lived the same amount of time.
So what has happened to the support group theory? We all know that only the bad news hits the headlines night after night. But when you’re dealing with your own mortality bad news tends to get buried. And since 1989 this remains true. A multitude of support groups still believes that togetherness of whatever sort extends life.
Is it wrong to ignore scientific fact? I don’t think so. After all, statistics may be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. So no one reading this column should conclude that I’m against support groups or prayer or whatever belief a person holds dear. If a particular conviction brings solace to those facing the prospect of death it’s logical to promote it.
No doctor should ever destroy hope while patients are fighting for their lives. The situation may appear desperate, but for reasons we don’t know, some patients do beat overwhelming odds.
I’ve often told the story of “The Flying Horse” to patients with advanced cancer.A criminal was sentenced to die by the King. But hearing the King was a lover of horses he promised he would teach the King’s horse to fly if he spared his life. His friends, on hearing his wish had been granted, asked why he had made such a ridiculous promise. The condemned man replied, “Within a year the King may die. Or the horse may die. Besides, who knows, within a year the King’s horse may learn to fly!”
Hope is powerful therapy. I do not forget how I hoped the King’s horse would learn to fly every time I watched one of my parents die. But try as I might I never succeeded in teaching the trick to that damn horse.
Faced with the devastating news that we have only months to live we will all face this fate in own particular way. I’ve no doubt that support groups are a powerful remedy for some people.
Yet long before these published studies I was convinced that the holding of hands may be a psychological ploy, but not a tool for the extension of life. Cancer cells will not be affected by the touch of a hand. And positive thinking goes only so far. It’s illogical to believe that fellowship will convince the body to destroy rampaging malignancy. Would that the cure for cancer was that easy. I fear that the cancer cell remains far too smart and virulent for our simple solutions. Nevertheless, we deserve some comfort at the end.
