Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

by Philipp Dettmer

* There is this myth that your attitude is crucial when it comes to surviving cancer. The general idea is that if you have and display a positive attitude, you will activate some mystical force in the immune system and enable it to overcome the disease. Inversely, a really negative attitude may have the opposite effect and make it harder for your body to beat the disease or may even have caused it. Wherever the idea of your attitude affecting your cancer survival chances originally comes from, after decades of research it has become clear that with an extremely high certainty, your attitude has no effect on your chances of surviving cancer. Your immune system does not magically become better or worse at fighting cancer if you are or are not positive and happy. Still, this myth is going strong, as it appeals to our culture of self-empowerment and agency and is spread by many well-meaning people. But aside from the fact that there is no solid science to prove a relationship, it is a terrible thing to say to someone with cancer that their attitude matters and that they should stay positive, because it does two things: For one, it puts the responsibility of healing and surviving on the sick person. It implies that if you don’t win the fight and have faced the gravest of all outcomes, it is your fault. That if you just had been more positive and optimistic, no matter how you really felt, that you could have saved yourself. Which is an incredibly unfair burden to put on someone ...