Relaxation In Women With Breast Cancer

The therapeutic process that women with breast cancer face is long and psychological support is essential from the first moment. In this sense, psychoeducation is essential: to provide them with information about the disease and about the techniques that we are going to use to improve their physical and mental state. That is, with the intervention we are going to try to improve your well-being in all areas.

It can be mentioned that breast cancer is the most frequent in Spanish women, since it accounts for 29% of all cancers. In Spain in 2012, 25,215 women were diagnosed with breast cancer (Santaballa, 2015). In addition, it is important to note that mortality from breast cancer has decreased in recent years.

Today we will dedicate this article to talk about the importance that relaxation can have for women who have received this diagnosis. The objective of incorporating relaxation techniques into their treatment is that they learn to control their activation level through the modification of different physiological conditions.

How does relaxation affect physiological and mental levels?

It is necessary to know that relaxation techniques tend to increase parasympathetic activation and decrease the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Thus, relaxation is considered a state of hypoactivation characterized by a low heart rate, peripheral vasodilation, diaphragmatic respiration, low muscle tone …

However, in addition to the effects on the reduction of physiological activation, relaxation techniques have other effects of a cognitive nature. We speak of the increase in the subjective sensation of relaxation, the focus and reorientation of attention, greater self-control or an increase in the ability to discriminate physiological responses.

The mental part

As Beck mentions in reference to  the cognitive part, our mind is the one that leads the person to certain beliefs about himself, to errors or distortions in his thoughts that instead of alleviating the battle against the disease make it even harder.

The cognitive aspect is fundamental in the treatment of the fight against cancer, since the thoughts that these women have and feed will favor their positive state or, on the contrary, they will give them a more negative vision of their disease. Positive thoughts will increase your self-esteem, your desire to fight, your motivation, and your adherence to treatment.

When is relaxation used?

Relaxation in cancer patients seeks to avoid nausea and vomiting in anticipation of chemotherapy and some types of radiotherapy (conditioned and generalized to certain stimuli that cause them discomfort). In some way, an attempt is made to reverse the effects of this type of conditioning, which on the other hand is common in patients who have already had several sessions.

In addition, relaxation  improves the emotional state with which the patient deals with the different tests and results. Finally, relaxation promotes self-control and limits impulsive behaviors, which are often tempting due to the frustration that the disease can generate

What type of relaxation can be used?

The type of relaxation recommended for each situation will depend on different variables, such as our knowledge of the technique, the level in which our anxiety is most evident or the time we have. Next we are going to see two of the most important techniques that can be applied with breast cancer patients.

• Progressive muscle relaxation (Jacobson):  the objective of this is for the woman to be able to identify the level of tension and to implement the strategies whenever she feels that tension in her body.

Tension learning is carried out through various exercises that involve the application of tension, voluntarily and intensively, in various areas of the body. As the exercises progress, the repetitions are reduced, to become able to suppress the tension exercises.

• Guided visualization:  consists of taking a mental journey through images, looking for the sensations, situations and / or places that give pleasure to each of the women with cancer. Evoking in this way the different sensory stimuli of those places where the person manages to relax.

Every day has its goal

When you are going to face a complex step of the disease, a chemotherapy session, another radiotherapy session, a visit to the oncologist waiting for the results … look within fear and anxiety that your body and your mind find a state of relaxation, helping to cope and fight that phase that you have to live.

All people who have felt cancer close or have any idea about it understand that the suffering associated with the disease can hardly be measured. What a person feels when they say “you have cancer” are endless intertwined feelings, fears, anxiety, worries …

Therefore, it is good to remember an idea. That  each day has its goal, that step by step, step by step, they face and overcome difficulties. In this sense, it is inevitable to think about the future and what will happen at the end of the treatment and feel the fear that it will not work, that the process will drag on or that the measures taken to fight cancer are not enough. It is precisely in the face of this anxiety, in front of these associated thoughts and emotions, where relaxation can help us.