Cancer Care and Personality

Cancer Care and Personality

ARE CANCER PATIENTS DIFFERENT THAN OTHERS?

1. I have been working as a Homoeopathic Consultant for more than 20 years, The science of homoeopathy trains one to look deeper into the patient beyond the presenting disease and study their personality trait .
2. It has been my observation that there are certain personality traits which are rather consistently present in the cancer-susceptible individual. These characteristics are as follows:

1. Being highly conscientious, perfectionist, fastidious, dutiful, responsible, caring, hard-working, and usually of above average intelligence.

2. Exhibiting a strong tendency toward carrying other people's burdens and toward taking on extra obligations, often “worrying for others.”

3. Having a deep-seated need to make others happy, tending to be “people pleasers.” These people have a tremendous need for approval and acceptance, developing a very high sensitivity to the needs of others while suppressing their own emotional needs.

4. Often having a history of lack of closeness with one or both parents, sometimes, later in life, resulting in lack of closeness with spouse or others who would normally be close. This results in feelings of loneliness as a result of their having been deprived of affection and acceptance earlier in life, even if this is merely their own perception. Such people are at higher risk to develop cancer.

5. Harboring long-suppressed toxic emotions, such as guilt, anger, resentment, hostility. Typically the cancer-susceptible individual internalizes such emotions and has great difficulty expressing them.

6. Unable to cope adequately with stress. Usually experience an especially damaging event about 2 years before the onset of detectable cancer. The patient is unable to cope with this traumatic event or series of events, which comes as a “last straw” on top of years of suppressed reactions to stress.

7. Showing an inability to resolve deep-seated emotional problems and conflicts, usually arising in childhood, often even being unaware of their presence.

9. These good folks become the “caretakers” of the world, showing great compassion and caring for others, and going out of their way to look after the needs of others

10. They are very reluctant to accept help from others, fearing that it may jeopardize their role as caretakers or that they might appear to have too much self-concern. Throughout their childhood they have typically been taught “not to be selfish,” or may have been themselves labelled” selfish” by one of the parent and they take this to heart as a major lifetime objective.

11. There is nothing wrong with care-giving, of course, but the problem arises when the susceptible individual derives his entire worth, value and identity from his role as “caretaker.” If this shift cannot be made, the patient is stuck in this role, and the susceptibility to cancer greatly increases.

12. A consistent feature of those who are susceptible to cancer appears to be that they “suffer in silence,” and bear their burdens without complaint. Burdens of their own as well as the burdens of others weigh heavily, often subconsciously as well as consciously, upon these people because they, through a lifetime of suppression, internalize their problems, cares and conflicts.

The carefree extrovert, on the other hand, seems to be far less vulnerable to cancer than the caring introvert described above.

Dr. Mitali Upadhye is very experienced in structuring sessions to meet your specific needs. She works with individuals and families, in addition to offering group sessions for people who might benefit from interacting with others in similar circumstances.