Integrative cancer care – a whole person approach
Jeannine Walston
Today’s guest writer, Jeannine Walston is co-founder and Executive Director of EmbodiWorks, a non-profit organization offering integrative cancer care resources for the whole person. Jeannine has extensive experience in cancer education and advocacy, health care policy, and both conventional and integrative cancer care through work in the U.S. Congress, government agencies, cancer non-profit organizations, and health care practices. In today’s post, Jeannine explains what integrative cancer care is and how it benefits the individual as a whole.
Integrative Cancer Care for the Whole Person
Diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1998 when I was 24 years old, my healing journey has taken me to places far and wide. After 12 hours of awake brain surgery and a recurrence a few years later, I quickly learned that my health is defined by much more than my brain tumor diagnosis. From the inside out, I’ve discovered that people with cancer need support for the whole person. My personal journey and professional cancer experience begged the question– What do people with cancer really need for improved quality of life and even survival?” The answer is integrative cancer care.
Integrating more than the cancer diagnosis, integrative cancer care addresses the totality of body, mind, and spirit, including social and environmental health. All of these aspects of your health and life are constantly interacting together, influencing one another, and interdependently shaping who you are.
Let’s start with the entire physical body. Why is that so important? The physical body functions as one whole integrated system. Health care must support the networked parts creating the whole. The internal environment of the body strongly impacts whether or not cancer grows in each person. A healthy internal terrain strengthens vitality and anti-cancer effects.
People affected by cancer also need support to negotiate the stress, chaos, and even trauma related to cancer. Mind-body tools provide cancer patients and caregivers with empowering self-care strategies. As the state of the mind and emotions affect health due to the mind-body connection, mental and emotional balance also improves biological functioning. Supporting the mind strengthens the body.
The mind-body is not separate from spirit. Negotiating the unexpected and uncertainty, people affected by cancer benefit from spiritual support. The existential crisis of cancer even raises questions about existence and nonexistence with challenges psychologically and spiritually. New spiritual understandings and connections nurture mind-body-spirit wellness and wholeness.
Along with body, mind, and spirit, integrative cancer care also addresses social and environmental health. For everyone, cancer is a social issue impacting community. When cancer is in the picture, new perceptions and social experiences emerge. People dealing with cancer—patients, family members, friends—endure a range of social challenges and opportunities. Along with the need for social support, integrative cancer care includes a clean, green environment. People with cancer must take steps to safeguard against high levels of environmental carcinogens. This includes using clean, green products in your body, on your body, and around your body in your environment inside and outside your home.
Support to body, mind, and spirit, including social and environmental health, must be applied to cancer care and especially as studies show that integrative cancer care reduces cancer risk, improves cancer survival, and quality of life. My own journey through cancer over the last thirteen years continues to inform my integrative cancer care knowledge and program. How can you better support your health and healing? What is your integrative cancer care plan? Empower yourself into greater vitality with integrative cancer care for the whole person.
Visit http://www.embodiworks.org/ for more information
Good to read this post today as it confirms for me, who has been newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, how important it is to treat the whole person in dealing with cancer
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Thank you, Bruce. Wishing you whole person health and healing.
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It is vital that we take care of the mind-body connection in dealing with cancer – we need to do more to help patients connect with their inner strength in order to maintain a sense of hope and control over their illness.
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Thanks, Alan. The mind-body connection is essential. EmbodiWorks has a mind-body section at http://www.embodiworks.org/mind/.
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Very well written post! Western medicine has become so focused on “the body” to the extent that it focusses on a disease or symptom in isolation but we need to also treat the body as a whole. I found acupuncture helped enormously with my fatigue during treatment and meditation helped with my anxiety.
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Yes, Nicci! Cancer care is moving beyond the diagnosis to the whole person. Wonderful that acupuncture and meditation helped you!
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Also Nicci, EmbodiWorks shares mind-body calming techniques such as meditation at http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/bodymindspirit/calmingallofyou/.
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We are so much more than our cancer; we are a whole person—body, soul and spirit and need to be treated this way.
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Beautiful, Amy!
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Thanks for this post today – we read so much about either choosing conventional or alternative medicine and it is important that we can read more about how we can combine the best of evidence-based conventional treatments and complementary therapies in order to effect a whole person healing.
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Yes!
Integrative cancer care makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, providers, and disciplines through partnerships supporting optimal health and healing. Providing compassionate, comprehensive care for the whole person, integrative cancer care addresses the totality of body, mind, and spirit, including social and environmental health, for each individual.
Integrative cancer care is about
placing the person with cancer in the center of their community,
the center of the room,
the center of the conversation,
the center of themselves.
Recognizing that each person is not defined by their diagnosis.
Seeing each person confronting the disease as integrated.
Helping each person embrace themselves as intact and complete—whole today and for the balance of life.
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As a breast care nurse, I welcome this post, but would still like to sound a word of caution. It is so important that patients choose their practitioners carefully – please choose someone from an accredited body. Also bear in mind that many hospitals and cancer support centers now provide patients with sessions of reflexology for instance so do ask your nurse or member of your care team if you can access this service.
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Thanks, Anna. EmbodiWorks in the Resources section lists Questions for Evaluating Cancer Treatments and Providers. Cancer patients must choose their treatments and providers very carefully.
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http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/resources/questions-treatmentsproviders/
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You should inform all your providers about all the treatments you are receiving. Coordinated and safe care ensures that all aspects of your health care are working together so do make sure your oncologist knows about other treatments you are are seeking and vice versa.
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This is such an important point Carl and if I may reiterate what you have said -it is very important to keep all your providers up-to-date about any and all complementary therapies you are using. Some dietary supplements/herbal products may interact with your other medications or interfere with your conventional cancer treatment. Therefore, you should consult with your oncologist/health care providers before making decisions about which complementary therapies to use.
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Definitely, Pat. EmbodiWorks provides resources called Cancer Drugs, Supplements, and Herbs in Top Cancer Resources at http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/resources/topratedinformation/#drugsherbssupplements. Thanks for your important point!
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Doctor-patient communication is a must! EmbodiWorks provides information about that topic at http://www.embodiworks.org/integrative-cancer-care/doctorpatientcommunication/. Thanks, Carl!
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Integrating complementary therapies in my own cancer treatment made me feel as if I got some of my power back and put my life back in my own hands.
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Wonderful to hear about your healing journey with integrative cancer care, Sandra.
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It is good to see that this concept of combining the best of both worlds when it comes to treating cancer is gaining ground – nice post!
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Thank you, Fiona!
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Agree so much with today’s guest writer and her belief in the importance of integrative cancer care – to treat cancer, you need a wide net. While chemo and radiation are very important, so too is complementary care that can have a powerful impact and improve quality of life
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Yes, Anne!
Quality, Comprehensive Cancer Care = Integrative Cancer Care
The wide net focuses on the whole.
Whole person and whole care.
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Research backs up the claims that a holistic approach can improve cancer outcomes. Breast-cancer patients who practice yoga for example experience lower stress and improved quality of life compared to counterparts who don’t. I am a big fan of yoga!
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Terrific, Mary! Yoga is amazing. EmbodiWorks has a yoga page at http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/bodymindspirit/yogamovement/
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I think this is wonderful, but what about those of us who are on low incomes and while we would love to avail of complementary therapies, we cannot afford it.
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Angie, that issue needs to be better addressed. Some communities in the United States have programs offering free complementary therapies. EmbodiWorks also lists information about cancer financial assistance at http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/resources/cancerfinancialassistance/.
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Enjoyed reading your guest blog today.We humans are dynamic living systems integrating many parts that create the whole of who we are and our cancer treatment must reflect this
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Yes, Davida. EmbodiWorks uses the same language and view. We emphasize that no separation exists. The parts create the whole. Thank you.
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I agree with Jeannine – care for people with cancer is optimally provided in an integrative cancer care model addressing the whole person.
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Thanks, James. Glad to hear your thoughts.
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Jeannine,
What a great post and I agree integrative cancer care for the whole person is needed. The medical system is slowly coming around to this, but there is still a long way to go. My cancer treatment pretty much focused only on the physical body, the other areas have not been addressed much. Sometimes those other things are left up to the patient and often there isn’t energy or money left over for the other areas. That to me is a concern.
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Yes, Nancy. Change is a process over time. Until cancer care systems address the whole person, people with cancer need to proactively advocate for themselves. Self-advocacy remains essential. EmbodiWorks offers support helping cancer patients and caregivers learn how to advocate and create an integrative cancer care program. Our Integrative Guides section at http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/resources/integrativeprofessionalguides/ explains other forms of assistance through the cancer journey.
We are also concerned about overwhelm energetically and financially in the midst of cancer. Hopefully our integrative cancer care resources both empower and inspire. We always welcome suggestions and comments.
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Jeannine – what a well-written and comprehensive post. It is so very important that patients and their physicians address all areas in order for the outcome to be good and lasting – focusing on the disease alone will only lead to cure of the disease, but not wellness for the patient. And the goal of integrative therapy is not just to improve quality of life – it is to improve overall health in the full sense of the word, which will also lead to improved quality of life. Unfortunately as many physicians focus primarily on the disease, a lot of the burden to address these issues still falls to the patient. However there are a growing number of integrated facilities and an even larger number of physicians that have developed their own “networks” of integrative care providers so that patients can have some guidance and support and are not left to do this all on their own. In many communities, services may also be available at a low cost. Definitely look into all of your options, and talk to your physician.
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Thank you, Dr. Attai. Excellent points about wellness, vitality, and support for overall health. Beautiful. Over time the cancer care system must truly integrate whole person care with integrative connections and collaborations. I really appreciate your comments and wonderful work to support people with cancer.
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Jeannine, you raise such an important point here. We really do need to take a holistic approach when it comes to our healing from cancer. So many just focus on the physical, with nary a thought for the spiritual, mental, emotional, environmental, social and other aspects of the process. Yours is a great reminder for us to meditate and relax, and/or be an advocate for environmental change,and/or take stock of our current diet and exercise routines. Thank you so much.
XOXO,
Jan
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Thanks, Jan. Holistic, integrative, whole person centered care– the paradigm continues to shift. People with cancer help drive the transformation seeking comprehensive, whole person support. And it is always about each person, their needs, health, and healing. I’m thrilled that our integrative cancer care resources remind you! Remember self-care today and everyday!
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Jeannine,
This is an excellent posting. I really like how you broke down the body, mind, and the spirit as being interrelated. It really is. I try to deep breathe and use visualization. Going through breast cancer has wreaked havoc on the mind, but all is in balance thanks to the tools to help both body and mind.
Thank you for a great post!
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I appreciate your feedback, Beth. Keep up your deep breathing and visualization. Those are effective tools and also profound to body-mind-spirit balancing, strengthening, and integration. Yes, all in the balance. Wishing you deep healing.
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Thrilled to see how this conversation has taken off – thanks for all your intelligent and informed comments and thanks Jeannine for taking part so enthusiastically!
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My great pleasure to chat about integrative cancer care here! Thank you Marie for a wonderful site!
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Great post and so very true that we must look at so much more than just the part or our body where cancer has occurred. It was not until I integrated many aspects of healing that I started to really feel better and feel like I was doing my best for myself.
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Beautiful, Debbie. I’m so glad that you moved toward feeling better and doing the best of yourself! Wonderful!
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Wonderful story and post Jeannine. Thank you. The concepts you present about integrative cancer care are so important and thanks to you and others, our society is learning. Keep up the wonderful work. I love your site:)
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Thanks TalkAboutHealth for your feedback and work to support cancer patients! May we learn and collaborate together to improve the lives in people affected by cancer and cancer care systems. And I’m so glad that you love our educational website!
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Hi Everyone! Please also consider joining us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EmbodiWorks and Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/EmbodiWorks. Another option is to join our mailing list for newsletters through our website at http://www.embodiworks.org/. Thank you so much! Wishing you health and healing.
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I’ve joined 🙂
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Wonderful blog about treating the whole person. Cancer survivors often go into a funk similar to PTSD. Our systems are bullied by a disease that requires coping skills beyond everyday strength. Some patients can tap into those strengths and others struggle. Thanks for educating patients, families, and the public on this topic.
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Thanks, Sue! I also appreciate your comments about PTSD and the potential for deep strength cultivated through negotiating the intensity of cancer. As I think you read on our site, EmbodiWorks provides information about PTSD and Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) at http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/bodymindspirit/posttraumaticstress-growth/. Referring to positive life changes, PTG is the opposite of PTSD. Studies indicate that some people affected by cancer, both cancer patients and caregivers, experience PTG. Both empowering and inspiring, understanding the concept of transforming adversity into opportunity through PTG and many other mechanisms shares wonderful perspectives. The evolution contains potential for positive change in people, communities, systems, and even civilizations.
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