Wendy Harpham on Healthy Survivorship

Hold Your Tongue?

I ended my last post with a question: Is it wrong to hold your tongue and let them [patients] believe what they want to believe...if it's helping them feel better emotionally and is helping them get good care?  

Disabusing Patients' Belief in the Power of Positive Thinking

In my last post I promised to address whether linking health to personal virtue is "good" or "bad" medicine. Followers of this blog know what I'm going to say:

A Fighting Spirit

A NYTimes op-ed piece entitled A Fighting Spirit Won't Save Your Life concludes, "Linking health to personal virtue and vice not only is bad science, it’s bad medicine."

Tyranny of Positive Thinking

In my Jan 14th post I shared how my failure to achieve a workout goal on the treadmill makes me worry I don't have what it takes to survive a stem-cell transplant (sct). A long-time subscriber commented, "[This] does not sound like you...If you stop after one mile, it probably means that you just don't have it that day...."

When a Healthy Survivor Feels Like Quitting

My 1/14/11 post refers to a post -- Why We Quit -- by a Buddhist physician who believes we quit when we can no longer avoid paying attention to the idea of quitting. He recommends building resilience by "trying again, no matter what the reason you failed before."

Why We Quit

When I jog, I feel as if I'm running for my life.

Henry Kaplan, The Gentle Giant

Henry Kaplan, The Gentle Giant. 

He was the first giant I'd ever seen. My chance meeting occurred on an otherwise uneventful afternoon in radiation oncology at Stanford....

Sacrificing for Healthy Survivorship

In some situations, your best choice is one that still involves some hardship, loss and/or pain. Perceiving such difficulties as a sacrifice can help patients on the road to Healthy Survivorship.

Adversity and Resilience

If you are interested in how to optimize emotional recovery after physical or emotional trauma, I suggest you tag this article to read when you have five minutes: On Road to Recovery, Past Adversity Provides a Map.

Sharing Laughter

Theresa Brown is a nurse who appreciates the healing power of patients' humor. In a December 1, 2010 article for the NYTimes' Well blog, Brown shares a few anecdotes that illustrate how she is often amused by patients' stories that others might consider offensive.

Elizabeth Edwards' Star Power

When Elizabeth Edwards died, many patients described experiencing powerful emotions, even though they'd never met her. In an article to clinicians entitled "Star Power," I explore why.