Many studies have looked at the benefits support groups might offer women with breast cancer. All of the earlier studies found that being in a support group boosted women's psychological well-being. Only a few of the studies found that survival time increased for women in support groups.
In the study reviewed here, women with advanced breast cancer in a support group had improved psychological well-being compared to women who were not in the support group. There was no overall improvement in survival for women in the support group. Still, when the researchers looked only at women diagnosed with hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer, they found that these women lived about 21 months longer when they were in a support group, compared to women with hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer who weren't in a support group.
If you're being treated for breast cancer, you might want to think about joining a support group. Ask someone on your medical team about what's available at your hospital or in your community. Being in a support group can improve your emotional health while you're having breast cancer treatment. Support groups are a type of complementary medicine: therapies that balance the whole you—physically, mentally, and emotionally—while conventional medicine does its work. To learn more about other ways to be good to yourself during treatment, visit the breastcancer.org Complementary Medicine section.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study shows that group "talk" therapy may help women with advanced breast cancer feel better, but it probably won't prolong their lives, with one exception. Women in the study with estrogen-receptor negative, or ER-negative, tumors did seem to reap a survival benefit from group therapy.
Unlike ER-positive breast tumors, ER-negative breast tumors are not fed by the hormone estrogen and as a result are especially hard to treat. These tumors are not affected by the most successful breast cancer drugs, such as tamoxifen and the newer aromatase inhibitors.
The yearlong study included 125 women with "metastatic" breast cancer, cancer that has spread to other areas of the body, and 3 women with recurrent breast cancer. The 64 subjects took part in weekly group meetings designed to build new bonds of social support, encourage expression of emotions, and deal with fears, pain and anxiety, had similar survival rates as the 61 women provided only with educational materials to read on their own.
Overall, women who attended supportive group therapy survived for an average of 31 months, while women who received literature only survived an average of 33 months, Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University, California and colleagues report in the journal Cancer.
This finding contradicts earlier studies, including studies by Spiegel's team, which found that group supportive-expressive therapy for women with advanced breast cancer improved survival.
"It is clear," Spiegel told Reuters Health, "that group support can help breast cancer patients to live better but it is not clear whether it also helps them to live longer."
However, in the current study, women with ER-negative tumors who attended group therapy did live longer than women with ER-negative tumors who did not - an average of 21 months longer (30 months versus 9 months, respectively).
"We were doubly surprised" by the results, Spiegel told Reuters Health. "Surprised that we did not see an overall effect of supportive-expressive group therapy on survival, given our earlier findings and those of others, and also surprised that we did see the effect among women with ER-negative breast cancer."
Women with ER-negative tumors "get little benefit from the new hormonal treatments," Spiegel said, leaving room for the impact of other interventions like psychosocial interventions. He also pointed to a recent study that showed that ER-negative (but not ER-positive) breast cancer patients benefit from maintaining a low-fat diet.
SOURCE: Cancer, September 1, 2007.
Breastcancer.org 7 East Lancaster Avenue, 3rd Floor Ardmore, PA 19003
Learn more about our commitment to your privacy
© 2009 Breastcancer.org - All rights reserved.
Breastcancer.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing information and community to those touched by this disease. Learn more about our commitment to providing complete, accurate, and private breast cancer information.
