From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…
Every month, I’ll be highlighting breast
cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites,
journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and
share them with you. Today: Reducing Body Image–Related Distress in
Women With Breast Cancer Using a Structured Online Writing Exercise: Results
From the My Changed Body Randomized Controlled Trial
“To help address
body image issues in women who have been treated for breast cancer, researchers
developed a program called My Changed Body, a web-based structured writing
exercise designed to promote self-appreciation and self-compassion.”
Another site
notes, “Self-compassion interventions are a new method for reducing distress
related to breast cancer treatment.”
As I was (and
still am in a different capacity) the main caregiver, I can only speak from my
observations. I can confirm that following the horrors perpetrated on her in
the name of destroying the breast cancer, my wife still struggles with a poor
self-image. It sounds horrible, and for her it IS, and I will confess that I
have no idea how to help her through this.
Clearly though,
she’s not alone.
The ideas of therapeutic
writing aren’t new – the goodtherapy website entry notes, “Journal therapy
originated in the 1960s with psychologist Dr. Ira Progoff's Intensive Journal
method. With his developments, the therapeutic potential of journal writing
moved into public view. Prior to this, the main function of journal writing was
to record events and experiences from a narrative point of view. Keeping a
diary, though most likely beneficial to its author, was not seen a therapeutic
process.”
There is even a
training program for therapists that leads to a certification in a number of
related fields/skills: “Incorporated in 1983, the International Federation for
Biblio/Poetry Therapy sets standards of excellence in the training and
credentialing of practitioners in the field of biblio/poetry therapy and
authorizes qualified individuals to practice as mentor/supervisors…[and] awards
the designations of Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator (CAPF), Certified
Poetry Therapist (CPT), and Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) in
acknowledgement of application to and completion of the approved training
program.”
There are nuances
in the field as well: [besides] poetry therapy and applied poetry
facilitation, [there are also specialties like] journal therapy, bibliotherapy,
biblio/poetry therapy, and poetry/journal therapy [which] are all intended to
reflect the interactive use of literature and/or writing to promote growth and
healing.”
Who knew?
Certainly not me, a writer…
At any rate, as
far as I can tell, the My Changed Body program isn’t available anywhere, and
wasn’t available to anyone except the study participants.
From The Breast
Cancer Site in a review of the Australian study (https://blog.thebreastcancersite.com/write-for-healing/):
“The women had the same level of body-image stress before the study, but
researchers found distinct differences after the study at the 1-week, 1-month,
and 3-month assessments. Women who had responded to the My Changed Body prompts
had improved body appreciation at all three assessments as compared to the
women in the control group. Women with lymphedema who responded to the My
Changed Body prompts had the largest improvement in anxiety and self-compassion
metrics.
“Researchers felt
that it was especially encouraging that women were able to achieve these
improvements using their own writing, without the help of a doctor or
specialist.
“The study is not
the first to show that writing can improve health and help people heal, but the
My Changed Body program was designed to specifically help breast cancer
patients harness the power of their writing to positivly impact their own
emotions about their bodies.”
Interesting, to
say the least. I wonder how someone could go about starting the site up for
real? What do you think, Honey?
Resources: (the
abstract, the rest is hidden behind a paywall) http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2017.76.3318,
(an online article referencing the paper) http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/writing-program-can-help-ease-body-concerns,
https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-power-of-writing-3-types-of-therapeutic-writing/,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_therapy,
https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/journal-therapy,
http://ifbpt.org/about-ifbpt/
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