Research: U-M research shows chronically ill may be happier if they give up hope

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uomh-urs103009.php

U-M research shows chronically ill may be happier if they give up hope
Study shows that colostomy patients who felt their condition was
irreversible reported better quality of life than those with faith
that they would be cured

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Holding on to hope may not make patients happier as
they deal with chronic illness or diseases, according to a new study
by University of Michigan Health System researchers.

"Hope is an important part of happiness," said Peter A. Ubel, M.D.,
director of the U-M Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in
Medicine and one of the authors of the happily hopeless study, "but
there's a dark side of hope. Sometimes, if hope makes people put off
getting on with their life, it can get in the way of happiness."

The results showed that people do not adapt well to situations if they
are believed to be short-term. Ubel and his co-authors – both from U-M
and Carnegie Mellon University -- studied patients who had new
colostomies: their colons were removed and they had to have bowel
movements in a pouch that lies outside their body.

At the time they received their colostomy, some patients were told
that the colostomy was reversible — that they would undergo a second
operation to reconnect their bowels after several months. Others were
told that the colostomy was permanent and that they would never have
normal bowel function again. The second group – the one without hope
-- reported being happier over the next six months than those with
reversible colostomies.

"We think they were happier because they got on with their lives. They
realized the cards they were dealt, and recognized that they had no
choice but to play with those cards," says Ubel, who is also a
professor in the Department of Internal Medicine.

"The other group was waiting for their colostomy to be reversed," he
added. "They contrasted their current life with the life they hoped to
lead, and didn't make the best of their current situation."

The research was published in this month's edition of Health
Psychology.

Ubel was joined in the research by Dylan M. Smith, Ph.D., a research
specialist at the Ann Arbor VA Health Services Research and
Development Center and a U-M psychologist; Aleksandra Jankovic, of U-
M's Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine and George
Loewenstein, professor in the Department of Social and Decision
Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.

Loewenstein said these results also may explain why people who lose a
spouse to death often recover better emotionally over time than those
who get divorced.

"If your husband or wife dies, you have closure. There aren't any
lingering possibilities for reconciliation," Loewenstein said.

Ubel said health professionals find it easier to deliver optimistic
news to patients even when they believe the prognosis is unfavorable,
justifying it by assuming that holding on to hope was better for the
patient.

Said Loewenstein: "It may be easier for a doctor to deliver a hopeful
message to a patient, even when there isn't much objective reason for
hope, but it may not be best for the patient."

"Hopeful messages may not be in the best interests of the patient and
may interfere with the patient's emotional adaptation," Ubel says. "I
don't think we should take hope away. But I think we have to be
careful about building up people's hope so much that they put off
living their lives."

--
Luke
[ Auf dieses Posting antworten ]