Having a positive attitude may help cancer patients deal with their disease, but it doesn’t directly affect survival, according to one of the largest and most rigorously designed investigations ever to examine the issue. The study included more than 1,000 people treated for head and neck cancer; the emotional state of patients was found to have no influence on survival. The findings add to the growing evidence showing no scientific basis for the popular notion that an upbeat attitude is critical for ‘beating’ cancer, says University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine behavioral scientist James C. Coyne, PhD, who led the study team. ‘I wish it were true that cancer survival was influenced by the patient’s emotional state,’ he tells WebMD. ‘But given that it is not, I think we should stop blaming the patient.’ ‘The Tyranny of Positive Thinking’ Jimmie Holland, MD, agrees. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center psychiatrist is a longtime critic of the ‘mind over cancer’ proponents who tell patients they must stay positive to survive their disease. In her book The Human Side of Cancer, Living with Hope, Coping with Uncertainty, Holland coined the term ‘the tyranny of positive thinking’ to describe […]