Mindfulness: how it helps cancer patients

Before the diagnosis of cancer very different feelings emerge such as sadness, afraid, anger, helplessness, or injustice. When the suffering of this disease is known, most of the people are accompanied by their relatives, friends and those closest to them, either sooner or later.

However, do they really show what they feel when they talk to them? Do you allow yourself to be invaded by emotion when it knocks on your door? The answer in most cases is 'no'.

While it is true that some people let their emotions flow, be they sadness, anger or injustice, in most cases people make futile efforts to show themselves well to the rest. In fact, on many occasions they can experience what is known as Experiential Avoidance Disorder, manifested by the avoidance of everything related to the disease. This avoidance reflects a lack of acceptance of the disease.

All these efforts to put aside the discomfort are in vain, the person ends up being in a spiral of thoughts that are avoided with daily activities and that, beyond promoting a high mood, the intensity of discomfort increases. In this way, both the well-being and the quality of life of the person are affected.

What is Mindfulness and how does it help cancer patients?

From psychology these aspects are worked through different techniques and therapies. In recent years, the Mindfulness It has been shown to be effective in the work of some relevant problems during cancer:

• Facilitates pain modulation
• It enhances sleep quality
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Improve personal satisfaction
• Improves quality of life

Mindfulness is a practice from Tibetan Buddhist meditation and, at present, it is part of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Its objective is to be aware of every physical and psychological sensation that our body sends us. However, the purpose of Mindfulness is not to eliminate pain or the thoughts or emotions that create discomfort, but to listen to what they have to say without judging them, paying them the attention that need.

This is so because our body constantly talks to us, every pain, thought, emotion or pain that we have is a message from our body. When day after day we insist on not hearing it, it stalks us when we least expect it and with a greater intensity, since we are not listening to what it has to say to us. Mindfulness facilitates the acceptance, understanding and regulation of these emotions, thoughts or physical sensations.

Basic pillars of this therapeutic philosophy

There are several types of Mindfulness and a multitude of activities to put mindfulness into practice, but It should be taken into account that the most important thing is the attitude taken when performing these exercises.

Shapiro and Carlson pointed out seven factors to consider for practice:

• Not judge: become aware of all experiences, both internal and external, without limiting them.
• Be patient: being open to discovering what our body has to show us without having to pressure it.
• Have confidence: trusting the information that our senses give us without the intention of harming us.
• Don't fight: do not try to avoid emotions, thoughts or physical sensations.
• Let go: all thoughts and emotions come and go. Sometimes we have the need to remain in a state of well-being. However, Mindfulness aims to pay attention to each moment, being fully aware of what is happening, as well as the changes that occur.
• Beginner's mindset: If we want to properly perform Mindfulness exercises, we must place ourselves in an inexperienced position, similar to that of a baby. Babies discover their world little by little, they look at it and listen carefully, feel it, suck it and even smell it. Mindfulness aims to place you in a similar position, where your inexperience allows you to perceive each experience with all your senses before categorizing it.

Bibliographic references:

• Collete, N. (2011). Art therapy and Cancer. Psychooncology, 8 (1), 81-99.
• Hart, S.L., Hoyt, M.A., Diefenbach, M., Anderson, D.R., Kilbourn, K.M., Craft, L.L.,... and Stanton, A.L. (2012). Meta-analysis of efficacy of interventions for elevated depressive 36
• symptoms in adults diagnosed with cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 104 (13), 990-1004.
• Hopko, D.R., Clark, C.G., Cannity, K., and Bell, J.L. (2015). Pretreatment Depression Severity in Breast Cancer Patients and Its Relation to Treatment Response to Behavior Therapy. Health Psychology. 35 (1), 10-18.
• Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness based interventions in context: past, present and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144-156.
• Shapiro, S. L., Bootzin, R. R., Figuró, A. J., Lopez, A. M. and Schwartz, G. AND. (2003). The efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction in the treatment of sleep disturbance in women with breast cancer: an exploratory study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 54 (1), 85-91.
• Shapiro, S. L., and Carlson, L. AND. (2009). The art of science of Mindfulness. Washington D.C: American Psychological Association.