American Cancer Society - Relay For Life in Braintree

Expressing Emotions Helps Women with Breast Cancer

Article date: 12/06/2000

Expressing their feelings after a diagnosis of breast cancer can help women survive, especially when they also have strong emotional support from family or friends, according to a new study published in the Nov. 10 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.


Researchers who set out to track the association between coping strategies and breast cancer survival among 847 women found that, although styles of coping varied, those who expressed emotions and had strong support systems had both short- and long-term benefits in dealing with the disease.

For years, researchers have probed different coping mechanisms and the roles they play in breast cancer prognosis. Such coping strategies as having a "fighting spirit," escapism, wishful thinking, and even denial have been studied with both positive and negative findings.

Any emotional release helps women cope

In this study, various coping strategies such as keeping feelings to yourself, prayer, seeking creative outlets, and making a plan of action were studied among 442 black and 405 white women who were enrolled in the National Cancer Institute's Black/White Cancer Survival Study. Seven coping factors were identified: expressing emotion, suppressing emotion, wishful thinking, problem-solving, positive reappraisal, avoidance, and escapism.

Patients were interviewed by epidemiologists shortly after their diagnosis and tracked for almost nine years. Overall, the research shows that any kind of emotional release during treatment has great benefits.

"These findings don't necessarily suggest that being positive is the answer," says Peggy Reynolds, PhD, lead author and an epidemiologist at the California Department of Health Services. "It also includes the expression of negative emotions and suggests that there should be long-term benefits in that expression."

Reynolds adds that the support of family and friends is a valuable element in terms of long-term survival. "The take-home message here is that it certainly couldn't hurt to have friends and relatives there to help you and in fact it may have long-term benefits," she says.

Coping methods vary by race

Scientists found that black and white women with breast cancer have different approaches to coping with diagnosis. Black women were more likely to rely heavily on suppressing emotions, wishful thinking, and positive appraisal while white women were more likely to use expression of emotions, problem-solving, and escapism, the study says. A woman's education, income, and type of health insurance also were related to race, the study says, and ultimately to the kinds of coping strategies they used.

Terri Ades, RN, MS, an advanced oncology nurse and director of quality of life and health promotion strategy at the American Cancer Society (ACS), says the study is important because it provides more evidence that various coping strategies work.

"The more we can understand about breast cancer and women's responses to the disease, the more likely women can adjust to and cope with their illness," Ades says. "It's really that simple. Knowledge is empowering. The more women know, the better they will adjust."

She adds that the racial component of the study adds to the understanding of how various communities deal with their disease. "It's possible through understanding of coping among different communities of women, that more effective strategies might be taught," she says.

More research on how coping itself affects breast cancer is underway and should complement these findings, she adds. "One of the ways that coping may affect breast cancer survival is through the body's immune system," Ades says. "Studies have shown that the levels of certain immune system cells in the body fluctuate in the presence of certain emotions."