[Debbie L.]

Thank you, Rich, for the "bugging me" part. Me too.

(How do you do the quotes? I can't get it to work for me on this website although it does on others.)

While I wholeheartedly support recommendations that we work to improve our wellness with moderate eating of whole foods, exercise, and supportive spiritual practices, I am very wary of this kind of "research", when it's interpreted in a blame-the-victim kind of way.

We are individuals. We arrive in this world with different strengths (and weaknesses) and we are born into environments that affect us also (environments that are not within our control). To imply, even remotely, that how we deal with challenges in our lives has any affect on our health is to begin sliding down that slippery "blame-the-victim" slope.

I believe that we are each doing the best we are able, with what we are dealt. We can support each other, and encourage each other to explore what helps us -- and perhaps that will help us to move through the stresses. But simply to report that "stress is bad" does not help anyone. Stress is LIFE. As Jacqueline wisely said, we all have stress -- it's how we move through it, and how we adapt to our naturally-acquired responses to stress, that may make a difference.

I would submit that especially for those who are easily moved to anxiety, it causes MORE stress to be told that stress is bad. At the very least, research that reports these vague findings (IN MICE!), should note that findings in humans may be very different than in mice. It would be helpful also to acknowledge that suppression of normal responses, including anxiety, is not helpful. So many women I talk to firmly believe that the KEY to their survival after a cancer diagnosis depends upon that "positive attitude". To be held to that expectation is a tremendous stressor, in itself. We must each honor our own individual and innate responses, and work to find what best helps us to move through them -- not denying those responses but learning the tools that work (for each individual) to move away from angst and toward peace.

I think that it would be more helpful to present stress as an opportunity (rather than as a threat). Every life has stress. Most of us, although certainly stressed by our bc diagnosis, have other life-circumstances that are stressful, too. Many people without a cancer diagnosis have stresses much worse, much harder, than ours. Instead of saying "stress causes blank" (IN MICE!), it would be more helpful to talk of how each person can find ways that help them to move through stress (LIFE) -- to see challenges as opportunities for growth and stronger connections with others.

An alternative stress-free way of living would be to live in a protective bubble. We could construct the bubble with drugs or with isolation. But would that be living?

Sorry to ramble. This topic pushes some of my buttons (obviously, smile). I salute all who have the courage to acknowledge what's hard and who work to move through it.

Debbie Laxague