Optimism Mental Health

Optimism and its Effect on Terminal Illness

It is no secret that America’s statistics on clinical depression are disturbingly higher than needs be. It’s also no secret that cancer statistics are on the rise. Is there a correlation between cancer and depression? In 2005, the Cancer Journal for Clinicians claimed that diagnosed cases of cancer were 1,372,910. (Jemal, et al., 2005) In 2014, the same clinician journal claimed that diagnosed cases of cancer were 1,665,540. (Siegel, Ma, Zou, & Jemal , 2014) That means that diagnosed cases between the years 2005 and 2014 has risen 8%. Similar results were found in depression statistics. In 2005, The National Center for Health Statistics reported that more than 1 in 20 American’s 12 years or older

Numerous studies were carried out on hundreds of patients with different illnesses and scientists found that optimism almost always benefits the patient. “Carotid Atherosclerosis tended to progress more slowly in optimistic women compared to their pessimistic peers.” Epidemiologists reported, alongside their study of oncology patients of which, “Pessimism significantly predicted premature death in young patients with breast cancer.” (Rotondo, Lensi, Vista, Arpone, Reda, 2010). From this it is clear that those optimistic patients with carotid atherosclerosis were progressively in better health than those who were not. Scientists also showed that pessimism quickly accelerated the growth of breast cancer in those patients.

A similar study on the positive effects of optimism was performed on patients with Parkinson’s disease and the British Journal of Health Psychology reported on it. After testing 109 participants with ranging optimistic and pessimistic views scientists reported that, “Positive illness perceptions and high optimism are associated with better well-being in a range of conditions, both chronic and acute.” (Hurt, Burn, Hundle, Samuel, Wilson, & Brown, 2014). Optimistic participants were said to have an overwhelming increase in mortality and over all

Scientists from the University stated, “A large, short-term study evaluated the link between optimism and overall health in 2,300 older adults. Over two years, people who had a positive outlook were much more likely to stay healthy and enjoy independent living than their less cheerful peers.” (School, 2008) The Medical Journal also showed that a positive outlook on life increases overall lifespan and improves peoples overall health throughout their whole life. This study showed that not only does optimism benefit those with an illness, it also effects those who are overall healthy