Mind-Body Medicine

Too often, the psychological well-being of cancer patients is overlooked. While your doctor is focusing on getting rid of the tumor, what about the rest of you? Cancer does not only impact the body. It also impacts the mind and spirit as well.

Mind-body medicine (also called Psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI) explores the influence of your mind and emotions on your body and immune system, and vice-versa. Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at Southwestern Regional Medical Center offers a Mind-Body Medicine Program in an effort to address this dimension of your healing journey.

The Mind-Body Medicine Team at Southwestern

Southwestern’s mind-body medicine team is comprised of licensed psychologists, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and a psychiatrist. Our mind-body specialists explore the connection between the mind and the healing process. As you receive your traditional cancer treatment, our mind-body medicine team aims to move you towards healing through support, encouragement and empowerment.

When you first arrive at Southwestern, you and your family members will have the option to meet with one of our mind-body specialists. Whether or not you decide to integrate mind-body medicine into your treatment plan is completely up to you. Our mind-body team is here to help you, not to analyze or judge you in any way.

A mind-body specialist will meet with you and/or your family members for group counseling sessions and/or private sessions. They will also collaborate regularly with the rest of your care team to discuss your treatment plan.

Our mind-body specialists will recommend specific mind-body tools and techniques to help you deal with the physical and emotional issues that may arise during your cancer treatment. Every attempt is made to empower you to participate fully in your care and treatment decisions. The goal is to harness the forces of the mind for healing at the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.

Mind-Body Medicine Therapies

Cancer treatment can be physically demanding and can sometimes cause side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, muscle tension and lost sleep. Mind-body techniques, like guided imagery and relaxation, may help reduce some of these symptoms. By complementing your traditional cancer treatments with mind-body techniques personalized to you, our mind-body specialists aim to heal your whole being. Their goal is to help you reach a state of relaxation and calm, balance and peace.

Using a variety of mind-body techniques, Southwestern’s mind-body specialists aim to help improve your body’s immune system, response to cancer treatment and overall quality of life. Our mind-body specialists offer you and your family the following complementary services:

• Stress management classes
• Classes on managing your emotions
• Relaxation and guided imagery training
• Laughter/Humor therapy
• Cognitive reframing
• Psychoeducational and support groups
• Individual and group counseling
• Educational resources

Stress Management

The diagnosis of cancer, the side effects of cancer treatment, and all the other changes taking place in your life can make this time especially stressful. “About 99 percent of the patients I visit with are dealing with more in life than just cancer,” said Dr. David Wakefield, who leads Southwestern’s stress management class. The class aims to help you and your family members cope with these stresses so that you can focus on healing.

The class discusses the difference between boredom, eustress (the good kind of stress that motivates us to be at our best), stress and distress (the level of arousal that overwhelms our abilities to deal with the current stimuli in our life).

“We also discuss ways to use your body as a feedback tool to communicate to your mind when you are experiencing stress,” explains Dr. Wakefield. “For example, there are many physical, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and spiritual symptoms that occur when you experience stress. As we go through the class I try to emphasize stress management interventions."

One stress management technique is to keep a stress awareness diary, and record the date, time and symptoms that occurred during the stressful event. “You can use your stress awareness diary to discover and chart your stressful events and your reactions to them,” Dr. Wakefield says.

Guided Imagery

Imagery is a flow of thoughts and feelings that help teach the body what to do. Southwestern’s mind-body specialists use guided imagery techniques to teach you to envision yourself responding to treatment and experiencing a desirable outcome.

"We teach our patients to develop and play ‘videos’ in their heart and mind of a good future and a desirable outcome to treatment,” explains Director of Mind-Body Medicine Dr. Gerald Ellison, who leads Southwestern’s relaxation and imagery class.

The class discusses the importance of positive images, which can help control nausea, raise blood counts, resolve constipation or manage pain. “Imagining enables us to rise above the concrete, here and now world, into a realm where we can think about things in new ways and create new perspectives on life, health and recovery,” Dr. Ellison says. Imagery and relaxation techniques can become important tools in your peace of mind and well-being as you cope with cancer.

Laughter/Humor Therapy

This class aims to help you use and enjoy laughter as a tool for healing. “Research tells us that laughter stimulates the body to produce its own antidepressant, a natural painkiller,” explains Dr. Ellison who teaches Southwestern’s weekly humor therapy class.

"Laughter is also a wonderful stress reliever, a great relationship builder, and it facilitates learning and helps the body generate energy. What a natural resource! It costs nothing to use except some time and a little effort. And while cancer isn’t funny, life is and we can encourage those we serve to enjoy laughter as a resource,” says Dr. Ellison.

Pain Management

Pain is an important example of the relationship among the mind, body and spirit. When the body feels pain, our thoughts and emotions get aroused. Pain may cause anxiety and depression, which may make the pain more intense.

Southwestern’s mind-body specialists offer non-pharmacological interventions to help reduce your pain, anxiety and depressionspan -- so you have more energy to focus on your healing. Our mind-body team will also educate you about the effects of pain on energy, relationships and the immune system.

"It is said, ‘pain is whatever the patient says it is.’ And this is not a problem for CTCA’s staff which functions out of compassion, avoids judging the patient and validates the patient’s experience," says Dr. Ellison.

Learn more about Cancer Pain Management