Group therapy doesn't extend life in breast cancer

By Will DunhamMon Jul 23, 12:27 AM ET
Women with breast cancer who take part in group therapy sessions with other patients live no longer than those who do not, but experience a better quality of life and less pain, researchers said on Monday.
The study led by Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University School of Medicine in California ran counter to findings published in 1989 by a group also led by Spiegel that women in psychotherapy groups outlived other breast cancer patients.
That original study helped popularize such group therapy, but subsequent research produced mixed results.
Spiegel said he was surprised and disappointed that the new study, which tracked 125 women with breast cancer that had spread to other parts of the body, did not find that group therapy prolonged their lives.
But Spiegel said the study confirmed that these weekly sessions served to improve the quality of life for the women, with these patients reporting less pain, distress and anxiety.
"The main finding was that overall, we did not replicate our earlier finding that group therapy for metastatic breast cancer leads to longer survival," Spiegel said in a telephone interview.
"The take-home message for women is that support groups help you live better, whether or not they help you live longer," added Spiegel, whose findings are published in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society.
FEAR OF DYING
These group therapy sessions bring together patients to discuss issues like fear of dying, aiming to provide social support and allow for emotional expression. Group therapy advocates say it can improve coping and mood, and lower pain, depression and anxiety for patients facing a life-threatening illness.
Group therapy for breast cancer patients has become more common in the past couple of decades. Spiegel estimated about a fifth of patients participate.
Breast cancer patients took part in the study at three sites in Northern California beginning in 1991, and were tracked for up to a decade. Nearly all died during the study.
Half took part in weekly 90-minute therapy sessions involving three to 15 patients led by two therapists and also were given education literature about breast cancer. The other half got only the literature.
The women in the therapy groups on average survived 31 months compared to 33 months for the women who received education materials alone.
Spiegel said a subgroup of the patients -- those with less common so-called estrogen receptor negative tumors, an aggressive breast cancer resistant to the newest hormonal treatments -- lived longer with group therapy: 30 months compared to 9 months for those getting literature alone.
But Spiegel said more research is needed to confirm this finding. These women made up 20 percent of the study group.
Spiegel said the contrasting findings in this study and the earlier one might be explained by the improvement in medical treatments and support for breast cancer patients in the intervening years, helping them live longer even without the benefits provided by group therapy.
"It's certainly good for your spirit if not for your survival time to participate in one of these groups," he said.