Humour: Therapy for a depressed man

A man walked into a therapist's office looking very depressed. "Doc, you've
got to help me. I can't go on like this. "

"What's the problem?" the doctor inquired.

"Well, I'm 35 years old and I still have no luck with the ladies. No matter
how hard I try, I just seem to scare them away."

"My friend, this is not a serious problem. You just need to work on your
self-esteem. Each morning, I want you to get up and run to the bathroom
mirror. Tell yourself that you are a good person, a fun person, and an
attractive person. But say it with real conviction. Within a week you'll
have women buzzing all around you."

The man seemed content with this advice and walked out of the office a bit
excited. Three weeks later he returned with the same downtrodden expression
on his face.

" Did my advice not work?" asked the doctor.

"It worked all right. For the past several weeks I've enjoyed some of the
best moments in my life with the most fabulous looking women."

"So, what's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem," the man replied. "My wife does ."

Cancer research: Keep up the good mood to increase your chances of survival

For those patients undergoing cancer treatment, many medical institutions also insist or recommend that they get counselling, and also ask family members to ensure that the mood remains light. This was seen as giving the patient more hope, a better chance of undergoing the various emotional and pyschological problems that afflict a person who is undergoing the trauma of cancer treatment. Now, it appears that there is actually scientific reasoning behind such a counselling and hope-for-better reasoning, since a study found that people who have good mental health and feel optimistic are actually better off in terms of their chances of surviving cancer than those patients who feel depressed (link to article):

People with cancer who are depressed are more likely to die than are patients with good mental health, psychologists reported Monday in the science journal Cancer. The study reported that death rates from cancer "were up to 25 per cent higher in patients experiencing depressive symptoms and up to 39 per cent higher in patients diagnosed with major or minor depression."
But Satin warned, "I want people to be cautious about this. We have not shown that depression itself causes mortality -- but we have a suggestion that this is possible." Satin cautioned against trying to match a specific patient's likelihood of death with the startling finding that death rates can be up to 39 per cent higher with depression that is serious enough to be diagnosed.

Even while scientists and researches try to find a link between cancer outcomes and mental health, it would anyhow be positive for people to try and ensure that cancer patients get all the help they need to have a more positive outlook to life.

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Cancer research: Cancer patients prone to depression

Cancer patients have been known to have higher chances of having depression, to the extent that many medical facilities provide counselling along with cancer treatment. It has always been accepted that cancer treatment and the pain resulting from the disease leads to the patient feeling depresses; of course, treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy with stiff side-effects can also cause more depression. However, a study has determined that the cancer actually produces chemicals that lead to depression (link to article):

"Our research shows that two types of tumour-induced molecules, one secreted by the immune system and another by the stress axis, may be responsible," said Leah Pyter, a postdoctoral fellow and lead author of a paper. "Both of these substances have been implicated in depression, but neither has been examined over time frames and magnitudes that are characteristic of chronic diseases such as cancer," she added.
The results also showed that the rats with tumours had increased levels of cytokines in their blood and in the hippocampus (the portion of the brain that regulates emotion) when compared with healthy rats. Cytokines are produced by the immune system, and an increase in cytokines has been linked to depression. The team also found that stress hormone production also was altered in rats with tumours. The rats with tumours also had dampened production of the stress hormone corticosterone.

The study has been conducted in rats so far, but the fact is, if a study can conclusively determine that cancer does indeed medically lead to depression, there will be a greater focus on emotional counselling during treatment, something that should help the patient.