Wednesday, March 31, 2004

A different approach to cancer treatment

“A door slams in your face. Suddenly you’re in a parallel universe doing the same things as everyone else but you’re not the same and you never will be.”

This is how one woman describes life after a cancer diagnosis. The emotional impact of being diagnosed with cancer, or any life-threatening condition, is a tremendous stress factor for the patient.

While many patients we see at Georgia Cancer Treatment Center have support from their families, friends or their church, the most successful cancer treatment results tend to incorporate mind/body wellness and proper nutrition with a traditional approach to treatment. This field of study, psyconeuroimmunology, has shed light on the previously mysterious interplay between mind and body.

We now know that your brain is like a pharmacy, influencing your body as it responds to your emotions and to your thinking processes. Since Robert Ader first

demonstrated that mice could be conditioned to influence their immune system, studies have expanded and become more sophisticated. It is now possible to study the effect of emotional states, perceptions, and thoughts on a person’s immune system.

For example, in one research project, students viewing a film of Mother Teresa showed an increase in immunoglobin-A in their saliva, which is a positive immune influence. Interestingly, this held true for even those students who claimed they did not particularly like Mother Teresa. Correspondingly, Nazi film footage decreased the immune response of the students.

Neuroscientist Dr. Candace Pert states that all illnesses, if not psychosomatic in foundation, at the least have a definite psychosomatic component. Recent technological innovations have allowed researchers to examine the molecular basis of our emotions, and to begin to understand how the molecules of our emotions share intimate connections with, and are virtually inseparable from, the physical processes of our body.

Research shows that animals under constant stress show accelerated growth of tumors and reduced life expectancy, and that anxiety and depression lead to suppression of the immune system. Yet we can learn to deal with and respond to life’s stressors in an immune-enhancing way. In fact, coping ability is the determining factor in whether stress will have a negative effect on our immune system. Recent research by Dr. Ernest Rossi demonstrates that pychosocial triggers literally have the potential of turning genes on and off as learning occurs on a cellular level.

Since our emotions appear to have the biomolecular ability to affect symptoms and diseases, it is extremely important to harness the mind’s potential to encourage healing. At Georgia Cancer Treatment Center, we believe that cancer patients should have the opportunity to participate in their recovery in a meaningful way. Not only were we the first oncology practice in Georgia to provide such resources, our programs remain the most comprehensive PNI programs in the state.

“Mind/body wellness and proper nutrition should be an integral part of an individual’s treatment plan,” according to Dr. Gerald Goldklang, chief oncologist for Georgia Cancer Treatment Center. “We believe in this so strongly that we do not charge patients or their insurance companies to participate in these programs. Harnessing the energy of the mind promotes healing of the body, and we want to do everything we can to achieve the best results for our patients.”