Type C and Cancer

Scientists believe that we all have cancer cells in our bodies, but only some people develop disease. Why? Who are they? It turns out that many people who have cancer also have Type C personalities.

In his Anticancer book, David Servan-Schreiber (2008) summarized Type C personality traits, which were first reported by Temoshok. Briefly stated, Type Cs are "really nice" people who try to live up to the expectations of others in an attempt to win approval and love, putting their own needs "on the back burner." When this backfires, they may experience chronic stress and feelings of "helplessness, despair and abandonment" (p. 136).

If I'm a really nice person who is under constant stress, am I more likely to develop cancer? Not necessarily. Studies on mice showed that stress alone does not promote the development of cancer. Instead, "it is the persistent perception of helplessness... that affects the body's reaction to disease" (p. 137).

Candace Pert and colleagues (2005) addressed helplessness in a discussion of the effects of emotions on health. Repressed emotions, such as unexpressed grief or anger turned inward, may result in feelings of helplessness, which in turn are correlated with "serious perturbations of the healing system" (p.70). It follows that "emotional expression, disinhibition and self-actualization would strengthen the healing system," and studies support this (p. 71).

What can we do? To me the message is clear. Be authentic. Feel your feelings. Express yourself. Nurture body, mind and spirit.

Interested in learning more? Check out Servan-Schreiber's book, Anticancer: A new way of life, and his blog: http://www.anticancerways.com/


References
Servan-Schreiber, D. (2008). Anticancer: A new way of life. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc.
Pert, C. Dreher, H. and Ruff, M. (2005). In M. Schlitz and T. Amorok (Eds.). (2005). Consciousness & healing: Integral approaches to mind-body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.