Causes of Breast Cancer and How to Help Prevent It By Reducing Stress

Can stress cause cancer?  Many, many people ask this, and studies have indicated that about 95% of breast cancer patients actually believe that their cancer was caused by stress. There are, however, many causes of breast cancer.  When I was diagnosed with breast cancer a little over two years ago at the age of 37, I had two daughters – a three-year old and an eighteen-month old. I loved (and still do) my kids more than anything, but I was one stressed out mom, and yes, I thought for sure that I caused my own cancer because I was so stressed.

To this day (I am now cancer free after lots of chemo, surgery, radiation, etc) I still don’t know exactly why I got cancer, but then no one really ever does. As it turned out, I am BRCA 2 positive. You can read more about BRCA (the “cancer gene”) here. In a nutshell, it was hereditary. My mom had had it some six years earlier and got it again shortly after I started my treatment. Although I was apparently predisposed, I still feel that stress played a large role in my cancer; just because someone is BRCA positive doesn’t mean they will definitely get cancer, it just increases the risk.

There’s been a large amount of research done on the psychological connections to cancer and they have shown that one of the strongest cancer causing factors is stress.

Psychoneuroimmunology is a field of study where researchers look at the link between mental and emotional states and susceptibility to disease. It’s been established that stress negatively affects the nervous system, the immune system, the endocrine system, and hormone levels in the body.

Some study results state that it’s not the stress per se that is the key factor in causing disease, but the perception that stress is not controllable or it’s inevitable. Moreover, the findings confirm that in people who feel they have no way to change the negative aspects of their lives often have immune systems that are greatly suppressed. When these feelings of having no hope, of being a victim, of lacking control, etc. come into play, especially over a long period of time, they play a significant role in a person who is cancer prone. So basically, in a nutshell, stress can make you sick.

We all have it, whether it’s work related, family related, financially related, etcetera.  Life will at some point throw us all a bit of stress.  It’s how we deal with it that’s crucial.  The trick is not to let stress become distress.  You need to learn to cope and find some strategies that will help you to manage stress so that it doesn’t rule your life and well-being.

Sometimes simply changing your environment can help manage stress.  A walk around the block may be enough to clear your head and manage your stress level, as well as give you a few moments to think about how to cope.  Sometimes changing your environment can mean taking a vacation – if you can afford to do so.  Other options can be a professional massage, a relaxing bubble bath, or a trip to the gym.  Many people find exercise to be a great stress-reliever.

We’ve all heard that getting a good night’s sleep is important in almost every aspect of our health, and stress in included in that.  Good sleep, a healthy diet, and exercise are all tools that can help you better cope with stress in your life. 

A study published several years ago called “Personality, Stress, and Cancer” followed cancer patients for ten years and concluded that “…personality variables are much more predictive of death from cancer than cigarette smoking…” He went further to explain three personality types associated with incidence of cancer:

1. Hopeless/helpless type – these types of people fail to cope with stressful incidences in their lives.
2. Rational anti-emotional type – these are people repress their reactions to life events which normally would produce very strong reactions such as fear or anger.
3. Harmonizer type – this type always tries to make everything better and smooth things over. This person is too well adjusted and tries not to rock the boat.

This study also discussed interpersonal relationships and how they correlate to the incidence of cancer. Not surprisingly, the dependent types – those who depend on other people or things for their well-being - were found to be more prone to cancer risk than those who are more independent and autonomous. The more independent personality was associated with a very low incidence of cancer.

This and other studies over the years have helped to identify a general cancer susceptibility personality, and that is someone who has roughly the following traits:

• Despair following a significant loss – person, job, possession.
• Selflessness – inability to be selfish; guilt associated with fulfilling one’s own needs; lack of acceptance of oneself.
• Repression of negative emotions – someone who holds in their feelings of anger, resentment, rage, hostility and feels that it is inappropriate to express same.
• Lack of control – feeling as if the negative condition in one’s life can’t be changed; feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, victimization.
• Sense of undeservedness – a feeling, consciously or unconsciously, that one doesn’t deserve happiness or success in life.
• Need for attention – a conscious or unconscious desire to garner attention from serious illness that one wouldn’t normally get otherwise.

The above traits are not absolute indicators of someone who will get cancer, but should be looked at as possible red flags, especially if you or someone you know falls into two or more of the categories.  Awareness is the first step to empowering oneself – becoming aware of potential red flags can help you to get on the right track. 

In conclusion, the first step is to learn how to take care of you.  Becoming aware and recognizing that there’s a potential problem is the first step.  It may take a lot of work but you have to identify your needs and learn to effectively communicate them.

It may take the help of a professional to work out one or a number of potential problems (counseling for co-dependency, assertiveness training, couples therapy, just to name a few).  Many women can also benefit greatly from some terrific self help books that are available at all bookstores or libraries.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor; the medical information contained above was researched by me and much of it came from my personal experience in dealing with my own breast cancer and wanting to learn more. Everyone is different and there's no one answer that "fits all" - I'm just gathering experience and information to put it out there in an effort to educate and help others.