Nursing Students Learn to Give Patients Optimism, but Does it Help?

Over the last decade, the only people who scrutinized the health impact of a patient's outlook were those into alternative healing and many of the old country doctors; the family practitioners who seemed to know that ultimately how well a patient "does" has a lot to do with how well a patient thinks he or she will do. Ever heard of Patch Adams?

Such health advisors promote a positive attitude in their patients as an aid to getting well and in the case of serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease, to prolonging life and improving the quality of that life.

Researchers into health and health outcomes relative to various therapies have traditionally stayed away from this area of investigation, preferring empirical data and concrete evidence that can be tested and replicated in a laboratory setting. The effect of one's attitude on one's health outcomes doesn't lend itself well to this kind of research, unfortunately. Most of the data gathered in the medical community on the subject of the mind-body connection is anecdotal and, strangely enough, not given the same kind of credence as data gathered, tested, and proved in a laboratory setting.

However, medical science seems to be catching up at last, or perhaps it's just that enough anecdotal evidence has accumulated over the years to spur an interest in conducting actual medical research into this phenomenon. Doctors who entered the profession over the last decade are more willing to give up the idea that only what you see and can test and study is valuable.

Perhaps it's an affect of globalization, or the instant communication you can achieve with all cultures; but it seems the time has come for the medical science community to find out what happens when they apply the "scientific method" to so-called New Age beliefs like the mind-body connection, which has in fact been around for centuries.

For instance, researchers in thoracic oncology (lung cancer) recently conducted studies to determine the effect, if any, of patients' positive or negative outlooks on their health outcomes. Their findings revealed that there is a direct correlation between attitude and how long patients tend to survive. It seems that those who looked on the bright side, who are optimistic in general as well as about their ability to fight their illness, actually do live longer than those whose outlook tends to be pessimistic.

Similar studies and reports of their findings are cropping up all over the place, from the journals of professional organizations like the American Heart Association to sites on the Internet and articles in the popular press, like health.discovery.com and guardian.co.uk. The trend back toward the holistic approach to illness and health is part of a larger movement among people in general toward the realization that the mind and body (arguably even spirit) are not separate entities but simply different facets of the same being.

It's true that the jury is still out on this issue for most of the medical community.

But lines are being crossed as more and more doctors and scientists engage research into the mind-body connection and how it can impact the health outcomes of the seriously ill, as well as the general population. Without a doubt, many would probably still feel more comfortable if the anecdotal evidence could be backed up by a body of solid empirical evidence. Yet it is encouraging to see that, even in the absence of that comfortably solid "proof," doctors are continuing to investigate this vital piece of the puzzle that is life and being human.

Works Consulted

Richter, Megan. "The Effects Of Patient Attitudes On Patient Outcomes."

Medical News Today. 5 Mar. 2010. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.

Wong, Sam. "Always look on the bright side of life ...."

guardian.co.uk. Science Blog, 11 Aug. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2010.