[Lien]

A few observations:

Debbie: you are very right, telling people not to feel stress is a stressor. Besides, implicitly blaming people for their disease is a stressor as well. And people are not mice.
Rich: The same phrase worries me too. It's a stupid assumption.
Adriana: People react differently to stress and the production of stress hormones is a very individual thing.

There is one thing that is different now, that interests me. Research over the past ten or fifteen years has given us a lot more insight in the mechanisms of stress. We know more about its causes, the way it starts, the way it develops etc. MRI's have enabled us to see what happens in the brain and biochemistry has given us clues about the neurotransmitters, hormones and other substances that cruise through are bodies when we are stressed.

Because we understand these things better, we have developed more sophisticated ways of dealing with stress. Two techniques have shown great results with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome: EMDR and PMA. They are able to eliminate or neutralize the triggers that cause an individual stress. These methods focus on subconscious patterns and work on a different level than traditional psychotherapy does.

The point is, that relaxation techniques don't eliminate the problem, they suppress the reaction we experience as stress. EMDR and PMA neutralize the triggers that cause the release of stress hormones. That's why meditation, exercise and other techniques bring temporary relief to some, but do nothing for others.

Another method I've been using on my kids, EFT, Emotional Freedom Techniques, seems to help as well. EFT uses acupuncture points on the face, upper body and hands and is easy to learn. I don't have a clue why and how it works, but I've seen some pretty impressive results.

In my practice as a business coach, I have been using PMA for 5 years now, and I've seen great benefits.

So if there's some truth in this line of thinking about cancer, we do not stand empty handed. That's why I think it's an interesting line of research. If we can develop a kind of therapy for those at risk, or those diagnosed with cancer, me might have an additional way of reducing the risk of cancer developing, spreading or recurring.

Again, this is very complex and stress reactions are highly individual. Something that is very stressful to one person is unimportant to another. Often there's a cumulative effect that's very hard to pinpoint. It's not something individual patients can handle easily. If it were, they wouldn't experience stress.

Jacqueline