Stress-Reduction Therapy May Hike Breast Cancer Survival Rates

A breast cancer diagnosis and stress—you can pretty much count on the two going hand in hand. Now, a new study is raising hopes about the effects of group therapy and relaxation techniques on the well-being and survival rates of women with breast cancer. Learning how to handle the stress of a diagnosis and treatment in the first year may help such women live better and longer, researchers said today.

The Ohio State University randomized clinical trial looked at 227 women with stage II or stage III breast cancer over 11 years. About half took part in what researchers call intervention—26 small therapy groups led by psychologists in the first year—and half did not.

The result: That one year of therapy and stress reduction (weekly sessions for four months and monthly sessions for eight months) was linked to improved survival 11 years later in the intervention group, the researchers write in the December 15 issue of Cancer, an American Cancer Society journal. In fact, breast cancer patients who had the group therapy were 45% less likely to have a recurrence of breast cancer and 56% less likely to die of breast cancer than those who did not.

Interestingly, breast cancer patients in the intervention group who were open to the idea that stress reduction could make a difference and who practiced progressive muscle relaxation techniques daily had the greatest reductions in distress and physical symptoms.

Progressive muscle relaxation involves slowly tensing and relaxing each muscle group (you can watch a video here). The technique, along with guided imagery, has been studied as a way to reduce anxiety in patients being treated for breast cancer. But this was the first study to link the technique to increased immunity and breast cancer survival.