Stress doesn’t cause cancer

THERE’S no doubt that stress can make us feel miserable and depressed. It’s also been linked to all sorts of health complications such as high blood pressure and insomnia. But can it give you cancer?

According to research published this week by the World Cancer Research Fund, half of us wrongly believe that it can.

For many years, doctors would talk of ‘type C personalities’ to describe unassertive, stressed, nervous people who repressed their feelings. It was thought that their buried anger and negative feelings somehow made them prone to cancer.

In fact, there’s no evidence to support this and it’s been widely criticised by both psychologists and oncologists.

Yet it remains a popular idea. I think part of the reason it endures, despite all the evidence to the contrary, is that it suggests there’s a neat, clear explanation for why people get cancer.

In a strange way, it’s far more reassuring to think it’s caused by someone’s negative energy or stress levels than to accept the truth — that life is random and unfair and sometimes people just get the short straw.

But when you think about it, the idea that it’s someone’s negative energy or struggle to cope that’s responsible for illness is hateful. It implies it’s their fault for allowing themselves to get stressed and not dealing with life better, and that’s simply not true.

Imagine you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer — this sort of claptrap is the last thing you want to hear. ‘Well, if only you’d relaxed a bit more often you’d be right as rain now.’

It resonates with the idea that the world is fair, that bad things happen to bad people. But some of the happiest, most relaxed people I’ve ever known have been mowed down by cancer.

Being stressed isn’t going to give you cancer, however there’s no doubt that someone’s psychological state can impact on how they experience being unwell. Studies show a positive mental outlook helps patients, whatever their illness: they report less pain, less discomfort and need less medication.

However, this is not saying a positive attitude actually affects the eventual outcome. People with cancer have enough to contend with without also having to deal with the idea that their personalities might be responsible for their illness.