Understanding Integrative Therapies
- To be clear, oncologists strongly urge patients not to substitute integrative or alternative treatments for therapies backed by data and the standard of care guidelines set by a body called the National Comprehensive Cancer Network [NCCN].
- Amid King Charles III’s battle with an undisclosed type of cancer, the beloved 75-year-old King took some time to relax at a wellness center in India while skipping some cancer treatments. The skipping part is something doctors very strongly discourage as it can be dangerous and lead to worse outcomes.
- However, oncologists say exploring integrative therapies is perfectly fine and often extremely comforting
- Integrative Medicine is an evolving field in healthcare that combines the best of conventional and alternative medicine practices. It’s a holistic approach, focusing on treating the whole person — body, mind, and spirit — and considering all aspects of lifestyle.
- This approach emphasizes a collaborative relationship between practitioner and patient, guided by evidence-based practices, and utilizes a range of therapies to achieve optimal health and healing.
- Experts warn that women should absolutely, under no circumstance, ever substitute approved treatments backed by data and, or FDA registered clinical trials, for alternative, unproven treatments, and that doing so is extremely dangerous.
The King decided to pause his cancer treatments while visiting Australia and Samoa to visit the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting amid his fight against an undisclosed cancer which doctors discovered while treating his enlarged prostate.
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According to the New India Express, King Charles finished up his nine-day excursion in a relaxing environment where they took part in yoga, “rejuvenation treatment,” “second round of therapies,” mediation, and walking to look at the organic farm and animals on the property.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson reportedly stated on Oct. 30, as per Reuters, “Their Majesties had a short private stopover in India to help break the long journey back from Samoa. They return to the U.K. this morning.”
Additionally, a royal insider said the India stop was simple to allow him to rest before his lengthy travel back to London.
What You Need to Know About Integrative Medicine
Although many doctors don’t recommend skipping treatments, something King Charles has done while traveling—here’s top five ways you might benefit from integrated healing medicine:
Meditation Therapy
Actual data on the benefits of integrative medicine is often hard to pinpoint. In the case of meditation, there is a good deal of high quality scientific research demonstrating the benefits of meditation for people with cancer.
According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, there is data showing that meditation creates “reductions in psychological distress in patients with lung cancer, improves mood and general well-being in patients across several cancer diagnoses, as well as enhances psychological functioning and mindfulness in partners of cancer patients.”
A Guided Meditation for the SurvivorNet Community
Dr. Brian Berman, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Maryland who previously took SurvivorNet through a guided meditation, ideally recommends using this relaxation technique once or twice a day or for 10 to 15 minutes a day in order to really begin experiencing the benefits that come from meditation.
Meanwhile, SurvivorNet consulted mediation expert and author Mallika Chopra, the daughter of world-renowned integrative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra, told SurvivorNet about helpful breathing exercises to help relax and “quiet the mind.”
“It really begins with just taking a deep breath in to the count of four, pausing, and breathing out,” Chopra explained. “What that does is it helps us transition our bodies from the fight-or-flight response that we have that stimulates all types of stress hormones to having a more reactive and mindful response to any situation.”
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Being mindful means to be aware of your body, your thoughts and what is going on around you, Chopra says. Taking a few moments to breathe deeply and focus on mindfulness can have a really profound effect on overall mood.
Chopra also suggests people do a body scan — which means taking a moment of quiet thought to breathe and check in with the various parts of your body.
“Set aside a minute or two, sit in a comfortable position or lay down. First, take a deep breathe in and out … then, shift your attention, starting from your feet and moving up your body,” Chopra explains. “With your breath you can transition up. So, start with your feet, move up your legs, focus on posture, notice how you may be sitting or standing or lying down, and then move up to your stomach and with each part of the body, take a conscious breath.”
Chopra recommends looking for different feelings in every part of the body — such as butterflies in the stomach or anxiety manifesting in various body parts.
She adds, “I do find in having worked with people who are going through physical or mental illness, or just grief, that these techniques just help to quiet the mind and get more rest in the body — and that’s what the healing response is all about, just getting to rest.
“These techniques help not just physically, but they also help to come to terms with transitions that are sometimes inevitable when people are going through something difficult.”
For people willing to put in the work and practice mindfulness, Chopra says, it can be a really helpful tool in your coping toolbox.
Dog Therapy
Cancer therapy dogs are trained to help people with cancer feel better emotionally and physically. A cancer therapy dog helps a person going through cancer treatment by reducing anxiety and lifting a person’s mood. These types of dogs mainly provide comfort and support through cancer.
Studies have shown that spending time with dogs lowers a person’s blood pressure and the stress hormone, cortisol. Therapy dogs may help with pain management, too, as time with dogs can trigger a release of endorphins which mitigate pain and discomfort.
Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet’s experts says that having a positive mood through cancer can benefit treatment. Also, scientific evidence around depression and cancer shows that treating depression positively impacts cancer treatment. This is where help from cancer therapy dogs can play a tremendous role. However, for more severe cases of anxiety and depression, speak to a psychologist before pursuing treatment or support from a furry friend.
Jane Kopelman, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and owner of All About Dogs, said during a previous interview that the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Caring Canine Program was hoping to get more pups involved in the program because patients request them so often.
Expert Resources On Pet Therapy
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“What most patients say, and studies have proven, is that the dogs reduce anxiety, reduce depression, and they give people a sense of hope they often motivate people,” Kopelman said. “Patients have said that they were so eager to have the dogs come that it motivated them to get up.”
The dogs can visit patients who are in the hospital after undergoing surgery and also visit outpatient locations where patients may be undergoing treatment like chemotherapy.
If you’re interested in pursuing a cancer therapy dog, speak with your doctor about the following steps, or an oncological social worker or organizations to connect with that train these types of dogs. Note that waiting lists for service dogs are often long and their training period is a lengthy process, as well, so time is of the essence if you wish to get a service dog.
Music Therapy
Creating, listening, and even performing music can be a powerful tool. Most people have felt the positive effects of a musical experience, but fewer people know there is actually science to back it up.
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Dr. Alexander Pantelyat, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, “Just listening to music activates more brain regions simultaneously than any other human activity.”
A study published last year in the journal Parkinson’s Disease researched the effects music had on the brain. It found music can help reduce anxiety for patients. Dr. Serap Bastepe-Gray, who co-founded the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine with Dr. Pantelyat, led the study.
“The guitar, which is portable, affordable, and one of the most popular instruments in the U.S., has potential as a motivational therapeutic tool both in the clinical and community settings,” Dr. Bastepe-Gray said.
Music therapy is a resource cancer patients turn to during treatment. Music therapy includes “creating, singing, moving, listening and/or relaxing” to the sounds of your favorite songs according to the National Cancer Institute.
This form of therapy can help relieve depression, stress, anxiety, and pain.
Pancreatic cancer survivor Joel Naftelberg can also attest to the power of music, as he found the support he needed from his music family.
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“The people that were my heroes in entertainment and rock and roll have been my friends and have been some of the most supportive people that I’ve had in my life,” he told SurvivorNet.
Naftelberg describes his cancer as a “monster.” It’s “attacked every facet of [his] life,” but that doesn’t mean he’s let it get the best of him. Music has been his saving grace.
“I have found music and rock and roll to be transformational,” he said. “Doesn’t necessarily solve anything, but it does let us dance on our problems for at least an hour or two. Nothing better on a Friday afternoon than to hang with your friends and listen to beautiful music.”
Focusing on something you love is an important way to build resilience in the face of coping with cancer and chronic disease, psychiatrist Dr. Samantha Boardman previously told SurvivorNet. She explained what she calls the “three wellsprings of vitality,” which are connecting with others, contributing to the lives of others, and challenging yourself to continue growing.
“Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,” Dr. Boardman said.
Yoga & Exercise
Everyone wants to feel better after or during cancer treatment, but finding ways to do that can be a challenge. It could be painting, running, hiking, dancing, writing, yoga, or any number of activities, but the most important thing is that you’re finding joy in whatever you choose to do.
Yoga is hard to define, but it’s a mix of exercise, meditation, and more. An article in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine explains that “yoga is an ancient discipline designed to bring balance and health to the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the individual.”
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It’s often described as a complete practice for your mind and body. Rooted in ancient religious practices, yoga is a way for people of any age to begin to improve their physical and mental well-being.
Practitioners of yoga, called yogis, stress that yoga is not simply “one more thing” to add to your schedule. Instead, it’s a whole system if you’re doing it correctly, yoga will cause you to examine and tweak most aspects of your life. That includes what you eat, how you move, how you sleep, and even how you breathe.
According to the National Cancer Institute, physical activity is beneficial for cancer survivors. The NCI cited findings from a report of the 2018 American College of Sports Medicine International Multidisciplinary Roundtable on physical activity and cancer prevention and control in saying that exercise is generally good for cancer survivors. The roundtable also found:
- Strong evidence that moderate-intensity aerobic training and/or resistance exercise during and after cancer treatment can reduce anxiety, depressive symptoms and fatigue and improve health-related quality of life and physical function.
- Strong evidence that exercise training is safe in people who have or might develop breast-cancer-related lymphedema.
- Some evidence that exercise is beneficial for bone health and sleep quality.
- Insufficient evidence that physical activity can help prevent cardiotoxicity or chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy or improve cognitive function, falls, nausea, pain, sexual function or treatment tolerance.
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Still, it’s important to note that other experts like Dr. Sairah Ahmed, associate professor in the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, say being in good shape during your cancer battle is very beneficial.
In fact, studies suggest that physical activity can be a powerful antidote for side effects of cancer treatment like “chemo brain” and, according to Dr. Ahmed, the more physically fit you are during cancer treatment, the less side effects you’ll have and the faster you’ll get back to your normal quality of life.
“In terms of cancer, oftentimes patients feel that they don’t have any control over any part of their life, and that’s not true,” Ahmed told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview. “Diet, exercise, and stress control are extremely important when going through cancer therapy, as well as once you’re done treating your cancer and trying to get back to the rest of your life.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a form of psychotherapy [reasoning based therapy], has been found to improve the mental health of those fighting cancer, according to a new study.
The new research, published two months ago in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Medicine, revealed that a systematic review and meta-analysis of 154 clinical trials found that CBT “moderately improves” mental health and quality of life in cancer patients.
Additionally, the ages of patients undergoing this type of therapy and how they received it contributed to how well CBT worked.
The study concluded, “CBT statistically improves the MH [Mental Health] and QoL [Quality of Life] psychosocial parameters in cancer patients with greater efficacy in younger patients.
“Important clinical and intervention-related factors, that is, age and delivery, should be considered when oncologists consider CBT as a psychotherapeutic intervention for individuals with cancer.”
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is “a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness.”
“Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life,” the AMA explains. “In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, or more effective than, other forms of psychological therapy or psychiatric medications.”
The American Psychological Association (APA), also explains how advances in CBT have come about through research and clinical practice, explaining,
“Indeed, CBT is an approach for which there is ample scientific evidence that the methods that have been developed actually produce change … In this manner, CBT differs from many other forms of psychological treatment.”
This form of therapy is based off of several core principles, as per the APA. For example:
- Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.
- Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.
- People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.
Treatment also involves work to alter one’s thinking patterns. Strategies may include:
Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them in light of reality.
- Gaining a better understanding of the behavior and motivation of others.
- Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations.
- Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities.
Some other ways CBT may help someone is by teaching them to face their fears, prepare for problematic interactions via role playing, and learning how to relax one’s mind.
The APA adds, “Not all CBT will use all of these strategies. Rather, the psychologist and patient/client work together, in a collaborative fashion, to develop an understanding of the problem and to develop a treatment strategy.
“CBT therapists emphasize what is going on in the person’s current life, rather than what has led up to their difficulties. A certain amount of information about one’s history is needed, but the focus is primarily on moving forward in time to develop more effective ways of coping with life.”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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