Optimism Makes the Pain Grow Fainter

“Is the glass half-full or half-empty?”

It’s the age-old question that helps determine whether one’s an optimist or pessimist. But how we answer this question may do more than simply reveal whether or not one looks on the bright side of life. Research published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management suggests an optimistic attitude causes one to experience pain in a far different manner than the pessimist does. In short, they’re able to endure feelings of pain with relative ease because their pain isn’t as, well, painful.

Researchers from Michigan State University discovered this after interviewing patients with cancer over a 16-week period (the interviews took place at the start of the study, after 10 weeks and at the very end of the study). The study involved exactly 214 men and women, all of whom were undergoing chemotherapy as treatment for their various cancer diagnoses.

What they found was that those who displayed the highest amount of “mastery” of their environment – or those who had a better attitude on life, which was determined by how participants answered the questions posed to them – described pain symptoms that were far more tempered than those who were less optimistic about life. Further, the optimistic folk were generally more upbeat and were less likely to report feeling fatigued than the more pessimistic bunch.

Of course, several contributing factors can play in to how painful cancer can be for a patient, so the findings were adjusted to accommodate those contributing factors. It bears mentioning that researchers did not find a correlation between the stage of one’s cancer and how optimistic/pessimistic that person was.

These findings suggest to the researchers – and to yours truly – that doctors and nurses can have a huge impact on how patients deal with cancer and how gripping of a disease it can be. Researchers encourage doctors to encourage their patients to surround themselves with things and people that engender happiness: family, friends, engaging activities, enjoyable entertainment programs and venues. In short, cancer patients shouldn’t be allowed to wallow in their unfortunate circumstances (though whether this is done is ultimately the decision of the patient).

Having any disease is certainly something worthy of stoking feelings of “Why me?” But I firmly believe that how we act and what we do with the circumstances bestowed upon us – how we respond to life’s vicissitudes – can dramatically impact just how devastating a condition can be. The Michigan University researchers’ findings serves as just one example of this – optimism protected patients from truly painful conditions.

To paraphrase a man I know whose wisdom runs deep, generally speaking, optimists have had just as many tragedies in their lives as pessimists. It just so happens that optimists do their best to make the best out of what life’s offered to them.

Optimism is contagious; it makes others around you happier, and as this study suggests, it makes life’s hardships much easier to bear. But having a truly optimistic attitude takes work (though I’m all about what’s natural, I advise doing the opposite in this case – it’s natural to be pessimistic). But finding and maintaining a truly optimistic attitude on life will help make feelings of pain – both the physical and emotional – grow fainter day by day.