New research has shown that breast cancer sufferers who receive psychological therapy sessions to help improve their mood, cope with their diagnosis, and alter deleterious health behaviors, live longer than patients who are not given psychological help.

Dr. Barbara L. Andersen and colleagues at Ohio State University studied 227 breast cancer patients for an average of 11 years to determine whether providing women with psychological therapy in addition to conventional cancer therapy would affect cancer recurrence.

Results showed that cancer recurred in 29% of participants and that 24% of participants died. However, the risk of recurrence among patients who received psychological therapy was approximately half that of women who did not receive psychological therapy. Women who received psychological therapy but whose cancer did return, also remained cancer free for six months longer, on average, than women who were not given psychological help. Results also showed that women receiving psychological therapy were 44% less likely to die from breast cancer. In addition, follow-up analyses showed that they had a reduced risk of death from all causes.

The authors concluded: "If efficacious psychological interventions to reduce stress are delivered early, they will improve mental health, health and treatment-relevant behaviors, and potentially, biologic outcomes. Psychologic interventions as delivered and studied here can improve survival"

Anderson BL, Yang HC, Farrar WB, et al. Psychological intervention improves survival for breast cancer patients: A randomized clinical trial. CANCER. Published Online: November 17, 2008. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.23969