Medical Treatment Depends on Attitude

A patient’s attitude is so important to surgeons that many of them will delay a major operation until they become convinced that the patient is reasonably optimistic about the outcome. At the same time, it is important to note that the patients can jeopardize their own health care by becoming too optimistic about their health status, which can lead to neglecting that care.

It seems that perhaps the trait of optimism, regarding health issues, should be divided into two types, each having differing health implications. The more positive type relates to an individual’s sense of efficacy, of the ability to overcome any obstacle, any challenge that may arise. While this may seem a good start, the more extreme variety may lead to a form of denial, the inability to acknowledge symptoms or threats to well-being.

The defensive type not only lacks benefit, but can actually enhance a health risk. This type would include optimistic bias, or the inability to apply a health risk to one’s self.

A deficit in optimism (the positive type), coming from the sense of helplessness in its most severe forms, can lead to tragic consequences, such as the phenomena of "unexplained" deaths of people who believed themselves in hopeless circumstances.

In some cases, for example, persons died after ingesting toxic substances, of which the amounts were often too small even to make them sick. In addition, numerous studies have shown a marked correspondence between increased health problems and the amount of stress from multiple life changes (for example, unemployment, relocation, bereavement, divorce, death in the family) in a recently preceding period.

Such health effects, however, are much more prominent among persons already having low self-esteem. A surprising revelation was that even dramatic events on the good side can have undesirable effects on people who did not expect them. This tends to lead one to the belief that it is the amount of adjustment following change, or the interpretation of a stressor, that can overtax an individual’s defensive resources.

The point is that the individual does not always have a realistic grasp on the actual physical condition. Therefore, although people generally consider four components in deciding whether to seek medical help and follow advice (identity, time line, consequences, and cause of the disease), their perceptions can actually be skewed by existing psychological factors and, principally, their belief systems.

Because I believe that the interpretation of stressors–those factors causing stress–is the most influential factor on health, the patient must master these techniques before going on to others. The others, then will be addressed accordingly, such as deciding on a purpose in life, educating oneself in the disease that afflicts, diet, etc.

(Notes taken from “Belief and Reality: The Major Lifestyle Issues” (2002) by Lora Morrow)

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