August 8, 2005 – Anthroposophical-type care is said to help breast cancer patients adopt a positive attitude towards the disease.
Four Swedish researchers have just published the results of an observational study of 120 women with breast cancer1. Sixty of them chose to be treated in an anthroposophic hospital while the others received only the care of classical medicine.
In addition to the standard treatments indicated for breast cancer, the anthroposophic treatment includes a personalized therapeutic program including the administration of a mistletoe extract (Iscador® – Viscum album), art therapy and rhythm workshops (eurythmy), therapeutic massages and hydrotherapy sessions (see the Anthroposophical Medicine fact sheet to learn more about this approach).
The objective of the researchers was to measure the effects of anthroposophic treatment on the attitude of patients towards their disease. Using a standardized scale to assess psychological adaptation to the emotional stress associated with cancer (Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale – MAC), they were able to demonstrate that, over a period of five years, the anthroposophic care program could help patients better through this ordeal.
The MAC presents psychological adaptation to the disease on a scale ranging from a positive attitude known as “fighting spirit” to a negative attitude known as “anxious passivity”. The results of the study indicate that the patients who received anthroposophic care fared better: a little less “anxious passivity” and more “fighting spirit”. In patients who received only conventional medicine treatments, there was a slightly increased “anxious passivity” and a decrease, although weak, in “fighting spirit”.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
1. Carlsson M, Arman M, Backman M, Hamrin E. Coping in women with breast cancer in complementary and conventional care over 5 years measured by the mental adjustment to cancer scale.J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Jun; 11 (3): 441-7.
