Surrender as Coping
Posted 3/4/2012
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I love this article. Although I would not have thought to use this vocabulary: "surrender"or "Psycho spiritual", I think this is very close to the work we do. Certainly my style with patients is not traditional mental health rule-bound therapy. It always feels, to me at least, as though we are in the mix together and together stretching and yearning and learning. It is impossible to have cancer and not think about spiritual or existential issues. Just as there are no atheists in fox holes, they are no non-thinkers who have cancer. (and I know that "non thinker" is not really the right word here, but I have been sitting and staring at the screen for some time without coming up with the right word. You get my gist.)
Here is the abstract and then a link:
Surrender as a form of active acceptance among breast
cancer survivors receiving Psycho-Spiritual Integrative Therapy
Lisa Rosequist & Kathleen Wall & Diana Corwin &
Jeanne Achterberg & Cheryl Koopman
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe a domain
of spiritual coping known as "surrender," as experienced
among women diagnosed with breast cancer who participated
in Psycho-Spiritual Integrative Therapy (PSIT). Surrender
is a concept similar to active acceptance, which has been
studied extensively, but surrender in the context of spiritual
supportive care has received little attention.
Methods After participating in PSIT, which includes exercises
in surrender, 23 participants completed an open-ended
questionnaire about their experiences of surrender. Twelve
women whose responses were most complete and expressive
were selected to be analyzed for this study. A thematic
analysis was conducted to better understand how surrender
experiences may contribute to supportive care.
Results Four distinct themes were identified: experience of
surrender, facilitation of surrender, inhibition of surrender,
and ease and completeness of surrender. Although the manifestations
of surrender varied, women were consistent in
describing these experiences positively.
Conclusions These findings build upon previous evidence
that spirituality, optimism, and active acceptance have a
positive impact on well-being in cancer patients. The findings
provide insight into the usefulness of PSIT for women
with breast cancer and inform future research on the intervention.
http://www.mdlinx.com/oncology/news-article.cfm/3952574/breast-neoplasms
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