ABSTRACT
Background: Though human civilization has reached its 21st-century cancer is still considered as the name of a fatal alarm all over the world. More or less, all cancer patients start being haunted by the horror of death from the day of diagnosis. This fear not only weakens their physical and psychological stature; it also has a bad impact on their normal lifestyles. Even this apprehension also affects their treatment as well. However, it is believed that the mind is the driving force of a man, that is, nothing intimidating can happen to a man who possesses a strong mind. Aim of the study: the purpose of this study is to see whether boosting, increasing, or instilling mental strength in cancer patients can bring any further improvement in their treatment and lives.Material & Methods:This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital where 40 cancer patients were included on the basis of some criteria (isolated, silent, mentally shocked, paralyzed, poor PS, patient with severe pain, end-stage disease). They were taken to a silent room and were asked to follow some interesting instructions for 15 minutes with utmost belief in their GOD for successive three days. Data were collected by using a performed questionnaire from both patients and attendants after 14 days.Results:The result was appreciable. Out of 40 patients, females were more than males. Most of them were educated with a mean age of about 45 years. Patients with advanced disease were more (60%). Among them behavioral changes were observed in almost 80% of patients, improvement in mobility was found in almost 75 % of all paralyzed patients, narcotics dependency was reduced in almost 90 % of patients with severe bone pain, and positive attitudes were built in 80% patients. Therapeutic responses were also increased in some patients. Moreover, among most of the patients some interesting findings like improved healing power, decreased CT-induced toxicities, improvement in a familial relationship, improvement in appetite, and improvement in sleep disturbance were observed.Conclusion:Patients with cancer in spite of craving for life, begin counting/her days after being aware of this disease. As a result, this terror of death creates a sense of hopelessness and this psychological breakdown affects the treatment in such a way that even the best medical care does not work as expected. This study has successfully found that if the mental spirit of a patient can be brought to work with all the medical procedures, a certain success is possible. They just have to be made confident enough to believe that “a man”, as Ernest Hemmingway says, “can be destroyed, but not defeated”.