ArticleAnnals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine2010
Positive psychology in cancer care: bad science, exaggerated claims, and unproven medicine.
Article in Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Review of the application of positive psychology to substance use, addiction, and recovery research.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2013Pooled it
- Pilot Testing of a Brief Couple-Based Mind-Body Intervention for Patients With Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Their Partners.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2018Trial
- Hope, optimism and survival in a randomised trial of chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2016Trial
- [Psychological distress and cancer: facts and myths in the light of scientific evidence].Magyar onkologia · 2026Review
- High Levels of Well-Being and Being Infected With the COVID-19 Virus Predicted Post-Traumatic Growth in Healthcare Workers.Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing · 2026Article
- Exploring the potential solutions to the criticisms of positive psychology: But can the bold, idealistic visions of positive psychologists survive real-world scrutiny?Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Benefit Finding Questionnaire for people with mental disorders.PloS one · 2024Article
- Psycho-emotional recovery, the meaning of care in the process of providing palliative care to Iranian people with cancer: A grounded theory study.Nursing open · 2023Article
- Social representations of cancer in patients from Medellín, Colombia: a qualitative study.Frontiers in sociology · 2023Article
- Helping Diagnosed Mothers and Their Adolescent-Young Adult Daughters Navigate Challenging Breast Cancer Conversations.Cancer care research online · 2022Article
- Early Social Enrichment Modulates Tumor Progression and p53 Expression in Adult Mice.Biomolecules · 2022Article
- The Relation of Ideology of Positive Thinking with the Perception of Cancer Risk and Ways of Treating It in Medellin, Colombia.Psychology research and behavior management · 2022Article
- Stress and cancer: The mechanisms of immune dysregulation and management.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Article
- Stress and cancer: mechanisms, significance and future directions.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2021Review
- The reciprocal impacts of adversity and personality traits: A prospective longitudinal study of growth, change, and the power of personality.Journal of personality · 2021Article
- Article
- Associations Between Characteristics of Web-Based Diabetes News and Readers' Sentiments: Observational Study in the Netherlands.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Observational
- Perceptions of Change after a Trauma and Perceived Posttraumatic Growth: A Prospective Examination.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundClaims of positive psychology about people with cancer enjoy great popularity because they seem to offer scientific confirmation of strongly held cultural beliefs and values. PURPOSE: Our goal is to examine critically four widely accepted claims in the positive psychology literature regarding adaptational outcomes among individuals living with cancer.
methodsWe examine: (1) the role of positive factors, such as a "fighting spirit" in extending the life of persons with cancer; (2) effects of interventions cultivating positive psychological states on immune functioning and cancer progression and mortality; and evidence concerning (3) benefit finding and (4) post-traumatic growth following serious illness such as cancer and other highly threatening experiences.
resultsClaims about these areas of research routinely made in the positive psychology literature do not fit with available evidence. We note in particular the incoherence of claims about the adaptational value of benefit finding and post-traumatic growth among cancer patients, and the implausibility of claims that interventions that enhance benefit finding improve the prognosis of cancer patients by strengthening the immune system.
conclusionWe urge positive psychologists to rededicate themselves to a positive psychology based on scientific evidence rather than wishful thinking.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.