Fighting Cancer with the Mind

MBB 980K Subject & Catalog Number

Description

Course Description: Cancer is fundamentally a biological disease driven by genetic and cellular changes, yet its development and outcomes are shaped by a wide range of environmental, behavioral, and social influences. It is well understood that health behavior change, like targeting modifiable risk factors (i.e., tobacco use, obesity, alcohol consumption), can influence cancer prevention, treatment, and control. There is also a critical role of mind-body medicine in screening behaviors, medical treatment adherence, quality of life, symptom management, survivorship, and end-of-life care decision-making. However, growing research and debate now focus on whether psychosocial factors may influence cancer progression and survival through interactions with neural, endocrine, and immune systems. There appear to be two perspectives on this matter, one popular and one scientific, which draw on insights from oncology, biology, immunology, psychology, and neurology. This seminar will explore the concordance, opposition, and tensions between these perspectives. We will review the long history of these beliefs, potential underpinnings, cultural influences and implications, and what constitutes scientific evidence to support a belief. The seminar addresses these questions by integrating concepts and methods from molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience, immunology, psychology, and the history and philosophy of medicine. Rather than seeking a definitive answer to the course question, the seminar emphasizes rigorous evaluation of medical beliefs, competing interpretations of evidence, and the scientific reasoning used to support or challenge them.