CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol 33, 145-153, Copyright
© 1983 by American Cancer Society
Is There a Cancer-Prone Personality?
David K. Wellisch Ph.D.1 and
Joel Yager M.D.2
1 Associate Professor in the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the Center for the Health Sciences of the University of California, in Los Angeles, California.
2 Associate Professor and Director of Residency Education in the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the Center for the Health Sciences of the University of California, in Los Angeles, California.
The cancer-prone personality has been elusive and may be nonexistent. A tremendous amount of difficult research will be needed to put this question to rest, one way or the other. Further, we are not certain whether the effort deserves much investment at this point, given our guess that chances for an ultimately high-yield practical pay-off are slim, especially as attention to specific cancerogenic behaviors may be more worthwhile from a public health point of view. The difficulty of changing personality is only too well known, and even those who have identified coronary type A behaviors have yet to demonstrate that such behaviors are changeable and whether those changes influence the morbidity of coronary artery disease.
One last remark pertains to the assessment of a potential role for psychological treatments in "curing" cancer. Regardless of the role of personality and stress factors in pathogenesis, the possible effects of psychological treatment must be judged separately. Existing information about the reported relationship of positive attitude and faith to the outcome of cancer is totally inadequate; similarly, we know virtually nothing about the relationship between normal and altered states of mind on the immune or hormonal intermediary mechanisms that may affect the disease. Certainly, no one is in a position to propose an adequate theory of treatment by psychological means. Because of the importance of this question, carefully controlled studies (e.g., using hypnosis and imagery) are welcome, but they should be rigorously conducted and evaluated with caution.
