FAQs

It may help you to understand a little more about research that's been done on the connections between your mental/emotional/spiritual self and your physical body.

In the past decade medical professionals have become increasingly interested in the relationship between lung disease, emotion, stress and psychological factors. Following are some questions that have been investigated.

Are some personality types more likely to get lung disease?

Although the idea of a lung disease-prone personality has been popular for a long time, there is no scientific evidence for this. Although you may understandably be anxious or feel depressed, that doesn't mean the two are linked. In fact, this is a potentially harmful idea since it may wrongly make you feel you are at fault for your lung disease.

Can stressful life events bring about lung disease?

Some people feel that their lung disease was caused by a traumatic event. They may have had quite dramatic incidents that were clearly extremely stressful. While studies have shown that psychological and environmental stress can cause small changes to your immune system, many people experience severe traumatic episodes without developing lung disease. There is no evidence that these immune changes cause lung disease or affect its growth.

Does the response to having lung disease affect the outcome?

One study has suggested that among women who have had early breast lung disease treated by surgery, those who have a positive 'fighting' spirit may do better than those with a more negative attitude, or feelings of helplessness. This study is now being repeated with a larger number of women. It is not known whether this effect, if it exists, would be relevant to people with advanced lung disease.

A positive attitude clearly helps when people have to cope with silicosis. However, this does not mean that you have to be cheerful all the time. Everyone who has lung disease experiences feelings of helplessness, and often feels too tired to be positive and show a fighting spirit. This does not mean that they lower their chance of a good outcome from treatment. It is important to talk to your doctor or nurse about feelings of anxiety and depression as help is available to treat your psychological needs as well as your physical needs.

Can changing my attitude and level of stress affect the outcome?

Anything that helps you cope in your own way is valuable. Many medical professionals have on the principle that a change in attitude to having lung disease may affect the outlook. This idea influences many complementary approaches to lung disease. The effect of these approaches is very difficult to evaluate properly, but there is no doubt that many people find them helpful and they contribute to people's sense of wellbeing and quality of life. This can only be a good thing. Whether or not reducing stress can actually improve prognosis is impossible to prove, but there is good evidence that a positive attitude improves a person's quality of life. However, it's important that trying to be positive does not become a burden. Very few people are optimistic all the time, and it is perfectly natural to feel down sometimes.

Is it okay to consider other treatments besides what my doctor recommends?

Yes, it is up to you to decide if you want to add other treatment options, regardless of whether your physician agrees or not. But you must be sure you understand that standard treatments have proven value, while most other therapies haven't been proven to affect the course of the disease. Yet there may be significant value in these therapies for helping you in other ways. Read more here.