gigazine cancer psychology diary

2008年03月24日 15時39分00秒

「書く」ことがガンに対して効果的だという研究が発表される

ガン患者が病気に対する彼らの深い恐怖などを筆記することで、生活の質(Quality of Life)を改善することができるとアメリカの研究で発表されました。この治療は若い人ほど効果がある可能性が高いそうです。

詳細は以下から。

BBC NEWS Health Writing 'eases stress of cancer'

臨床医のNancy Morgan医師が、ワシントンのガン医療センターでガン患者に対して筆記エクササイズを行ったところ、病気に対しての考え方を変える方法として半分の人間が賛同したそうです。

筆記にかける時間は20分で、「ガンが自分たちの何を変えるのか、そしてその変わった事に対して自分はどう思うのか」といったことに答える感じで記述を行 います。病気に対する直接的なインパクトとなっている証拠はありませんが、病気に対しての考えが大きく変わったと患者から報告されているとのこと。

Morgan医師は「思考や感覚、認識、感情はガンに関係していて、病気に関する要素を筆記することは健康利益に繋がる」と研究結果について述べています。

ガン自体が治るというわけではないようですが、重い病気と向き合う方法としてはいいのかもしれません。


元記事　(ネタ元)

Writing 'eases stress of cancer'

Writing was found to help cancer patients

Encouraging cancer patients to write down their deepest fears about the disease may improve their quality of life, according to a US study.

Nancy Morgan, a "writing clinician", approached patients waiting in a clinic at a cancer centre in Washington DC.

Half those who took part said the exercise changed the way they thought about the illness, according to the journal The Oncologist.

Younger people, and those recently diagnosed, were most likely to benefit.

Thoughts and feelings, or the cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits Nancy Morgan, Lombardi Center

Ms Morgan developed her role as part of the Arts and Humanities Program at the Lombardi Center.

Her "expressive writing" exercise, lasting just 20 minutes, posed questions to leukaemia or lymphoma patients about how the cancer had changed them and how they felt about those changes.

When those taking part were contacted again a few weeks later, 49% said that the writing had changed their thoughts about their illness, while 38% said their feelings towards their situation had changed.

While there was no evidence of direct impact of the session on their illness, where the patients had reported greater changes in their mindset during the writing, this could be linked to more positive reports of quality of life given to their doctors during follow-up appointments.

Ms Morgan said: "Thoughts and feelings, or the cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits, according to previous studies.

"Writing only about the facts has shown no benefit."

Dr Bruce Cheson, the head of haematology at Lombardi, said: "I'm pleased to see that so many of our patients were interested in this kind of therapy.

"Our study supports the benefit of an expressive writing program and the ability to integrate such a program into a busy clinic."