This is the first of two reports I will post on the effects of stress on cancer. What can be more stressful than being stricken with cancer? Not much. If you’re a cancer patient, knowing you’re going to incur painful and debilitating treatment and possibly die afterward is almost more than you can endure. It brings stress on every part of your being. Recent studies show that this stress substantially inhibits healing from cancer. It weakens the immune system’s anti-tumor defense. It encourages new tumor-feeding blood vessels to form. Last year, The Journal of Clinical Investigation reported a new study that showed stress hormones, such as adrenaline, directly supporting tumor growth and spread. The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center study found that cancerous mice placed under extreme stress had more rapid tumor growth than cancerous mice in a non-stressful environment. This led to similar studies with people.

One of the most classic short stories of all time is the Hans Christian Andersen version of The Emperor’s New Clothes. A tale of Arab and Jewish origin, Andersen adapted and published it in 1837 as a socio-political satire. It is about two swindlers who came to the king’s city and convinced him that they were accomplished tailors who could make a fine suit that would be invisible to anyone who was incompetent or unfit for his position. The king was convinced that such a suit would benefit him by being able to detect those in his kingdom who were incompetent or unfit. So, he ordered up such a suit for himself. Later, he sent his minister to check on the progress of the tailors. Finding the tailors busily weaving nothing on the looms, the minister didn’t want to appear stupid, so he praised the craftsmanship to the tailors and the king. Others dispatched by the king to assess the job also lauded the suit-making, although that they could see nothing being made, for fear that they would be judged as stupid. Finally, the suit was finished, and the swindlers proudly displayed the suit for the emperor. Not seeing anything, the emperor thought he must be the incompetent one, since everyone else could see it, so he disrobed, donned the “suit,” and majestically paraded through town with it. All who saw the naked emperor, assumed that they, themselves, must be stupid, and they applauded the beautiful suit. Finally, a small child cried, “The emperor is wearing nothing at all!” The king, cringing with fear that the child could be right, continued the procession, faking confidence, in all his glory.