
Barbara Ehrenreich questions positive thinking - kqr2
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/19/DD211A4O4C.DTL
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philk
I'm of two minds about this.

On the one hand, the "smile or die" crowd at the breast cancer support groups
sounds insanely creepy. Particularly the part where they've ostracized members
whose cancer has metastized because they'll bring the mood of the group down.

Also putting pressure on people to feel happy will often make them feel worse.
Depressed people who are shown pictures of happy people get more depressed.

On the other hand, being positive seems to have several benefits from a
personal success front:

1) Optimistic people are more fun to be around and are more charismatic.

2) Often things that are worth achieving are really hard. Optimists
underestimate the difficulty, and, indeed, continually believe that success is
right around the corner. Hence optimists will keep cheerily (and ignorantly)
marching onwards long after pessimists/realists have realised that the chance
of success is low or it's too much work. This leads to a higher chance of them
achieving things.

3) Overoptimism in terms of financial risk was bad societally but not
individually - as mentioned in the article people who doubted the stability of
derivatives were often fired. People who were optimistic and went with the
herd made money all the way along and then were bailed out after the crash.

4) Optimists are less anxious which should (at least theoretically) lead to a
reduction in stress hormones such as cortisol. Stress (and cortisol,etc) is
remarkably good at prematurely aging you and tearing up your body. Also one
would expect reduced anxiety to lead to reduced blood pressure. Given
chronically high blood pressure leads to an increased risk of heart attacks
and strokes there should be a health benefit there too.

(Of course once you've got cancer 'thinking positive' will probably do very
little as you're too far gone).

5) Optimists are less likely to commit suicide, which improves health by
default.

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peoplerock
"once you've got cancer 'thinking positive' will probably do very little as
you're too far gone" ?

I'll try to speak in an even-toned way (as spouse of a nine-year breast cancer
survivor):

The survival rate is well over 50% (at five years) for _many_ forms of cancer
when treated with best current therapies. Most people who've _got cancer_ are
NOT "too far gone." In fact, therapists who specialize in such self-healing
methodologies such as biofeedback would probably identify breast cancer
patients (especially when caught in early-to-mid stages) as in a _primo_ place
to benefit from stress reduction, constructive visualizations of their future,
and other audaciously positive thinking.

I would not expect "pressuring" anyone to think positively would be very
therapeutic. However, skilled clinicians who guide patients toward their own
preferred style of positivity can be god-sends. (In my/our humble
experiences.)

~~~
btilly
The major flaw in your reasoning is that you've failed to identify a
correlation between thinking positively and surviving cancer. Given that
several large studies have also failed to show a correlation, I am forced to
doubt the _therapeutic_ benefits of positive thinking for cancer.

That is not to say that there are no health benefits from optimism. For
instance there is evidence that it helps with the risks from cardiovascular
disease. But it is far more dubious as a treatment for cancer.

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btilly
See <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=875872> for previous discussion of
the same material.

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Confusion
A lousy article: it doesn't explain what her gripe with 'positive thinking'
is. They mention a 'happiness industry', without explaining what it is.

The point of positive thinking is simply that if you are able to conjure up
positive thoughts, then you will, almost by definition, _feel_ better. I hope
to be able to smile, thinking positive thoughts, while I'm dying.

