An unexpected news such as being diagnosed with cancer has a huge emotional impact in the person who suffers it. From the first moment you find out about your diagnosis, a series of very intense emotions and feelings usually appear, such as anguish, fear, anger, guilt, hopelessness, etc..
From that moment, the person has to go through a series of changes and difficult situations in his life, such as the fact of beginning to experience changes in your body image, a sometimes drastic modification in the daily routine (family roles, work, etc.), deciding whether or not to start a treatment and, in case of doing so, experiencing the side effects that it brings, as well as those of the disease itself (pain, extreme fatigue, nausea, etc.) Among other types of difficulties that appear or not depending on the individual case of the person and the type of cancer they suffer.
Due to all these types of difficulties that a cancer patient usually goes through, it is normal that certain alterations in your psychological and emotional state. In fact, cancer has been found to be associated with a high percentage of mental health problems such as major depression, anxiety, as well as others emotional disorders.
For these reasons, it is highly recommended and even necessary for people with cancer to receive adequate psychological helpand acquire the necessary tools from the hand of psycho-oncology to learn to better manage the difficult process they are going through.
Mindfulness or mindfulness is a type of meditation whose origin has its roots in Buddhism more than 2,500 years ago and which was made popular in the West until the 21st century by John Kabat Zinn. This type of meditation involves becoming aware of the present moment without judgment, with kindness, curiosity, openness and acceptance.
More and more interventions are based on mindfulness due to the good results they have had to treat physical and psychological problems and have even achieved in recent years increase well-being in general of people.
There are many ways to practice mindfulness, in fact we can do it alone either formally (maintaining a state of mindfulness in the absence of other tasks) and informally (doing some activity such as eating, showering, etc.)
The mindfulness-based interventions that we talk about and that have been studied to verify the level of efficiency in the treatment of diseases such as cancer are the following:
Mindfulness practice can bring many psychological and emotional benefits to people with cancer, as well as rEducate several main symptoms of depression, anxiety, among others. When we practice mindfulness continuously, we begin to develop a series of capacities that help us feel better about ourselves and others.
Among the main benefits of mindfulness practice for people with cancer are the following:
Increased ability to rebuild and improve perception of stressful events. So it could be a great help so they can cope with difficult situations through which they go through, such as maintaining a better attitude towards the treatment they are receiving, reducing the feeling of sadness and hopelessness, etc..
Because it helps to keep attention in the present moment, worries about the future diminish (fear of dying, uncertainty, worry about pending issues, etc.) which is quite common in people with cancer or the overwhelm they may be experiencing from remembering the past.
This causes reduce negative thoughts considerably with those who are usually dealing day by day.
It helps people with cancer to develop a attitude of greater acceptance of the disease and a better coexistence with the feelings and emotions they experience. It must be taken into account that while there is rejection and lack of acceptance, sadness and frustration appear more.
There are mindfulness exercises that are especially focused on paying attention to the body, which help the person suffering from cancer to have a more friendly attitude with their own body since sometimes they can experience negative emotions towards it, feeling as if he would have betrayed them.
It favors the development of attitude of self pity Toward oneself. This means that the person is capable of being more open towards their own suffering, feeling kindness and love towards themselves, which is why they are also capable of accepting their limitations..
In conclusion we can say that without a doubt Mindfulness-based interventions can be favorable to reduce the psychological and emotional symptoms of cancer patients.
Although so far it has not been shown that this type of intervention can help improve physical health, in any way, by increasing emotional well-being, it favors the person to have the opportunity to increase their quality of life and live the disease as best as possible.
Bibliographic reference:
Soler, J. S., Hervás, G. H., & Cebolla, A. C. (2016b, November 1). Mindfulness-based psychological interventions and their benefits. Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1130527416300391
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