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Cancer patients in group therapy and support groups enjoy a better life.
By Dr. Larry Lachman
Psychology Today
October 2, 2002
Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel studied 50 women with metastatic breast cancer who attended a weekly support group. Those who attended the group reported significantly better quality of life: less pain and elevated mood, as compared with a control group who did not attend therapy sessions. But Spiegel was most impressed by the finding that support-group participants ultimately lived almost twice as long after diagnosis as those in the control group. Women in the support group lived an average of three years, as opposed to less than two years for those in the control group.
Attempts to replicate Spiegel's landmark research have yielded mixed or disappointing results. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that among 235 women with metastatic breast cancer who were randomly assigned to either group therapy or to a control group, those in the support group experienced greater improvement in quality of life, but no difference in length of survival.
A review of research on psychological interventions for cancer patients by Barbara Andersen, Ph.D., published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, found that psychotherapy is highly effective in improving quality of life but does not contribute to survival.
Spiegel responded that the conflicting findings may be due to improved medical treatment and that more people now receive increased emotional support from family members and educational groups, thereby approximating the effects of experimental group therapy. In The New England Journal of Medicine, Spiegel states that medical literature shows psychotherapy moderately prolonged survival in five out of 10 published trials.
Cancer patients, who are considering group therapy, should choose one that has eight to 10 people, meets weekly and is facilitated by a licensed therapist. This will probably increase quality of life, and thereby potentially extend life as well.
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