If chronic emotional distress is toxic, the opposite emotions can be tonic to a degree. As with depression, there are medical costs to pessimism and corresponding benefits from optimism. For example one hundred a twenty two who had their first heart attack were evaluated on their of pessimism or optimism. Eight years later, of the twenty five most pessimistic men, twenty one had died; of the twenty five most optimistic, just six had died. Their mental outlook proved a better predictor of survival than any medical risk factor, including the amount of damage to the heart in the first attack, artery damage, cholesterol level, or blood pressure. In other research, patients going into artery bypass surgery who were more optimistic had a much faster recovery and fewer medical complications during and after surgery than did more pessimistic patients.
In a study of people paralysed from spinal injuries, those who had more hope were able to gain greater levels of physical mobility compared to other patients with similar degrees of injury, but who felt less hopeful. Karol Sikora, professor of clinical oncology at Hammersmith hospital reports, “we have patients who have survived for twenty years with secondary bone cancers and two who have lived for more than eight years with liver secondaries. The people who live longer do seem to seem to make light of their condition. It makes sense to encourage people to get rid of their fear and minimise the importance of cancer in their lives.”
Review complied by Adam Michael Sanders
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