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Optimism Mental Health

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Optimism and its Effect on Terminal Illness
It is no secret that America’s statistics on clinical depression are disturbingly higher than needs be. It’s also no secret that cancer statistics are on the rise. Is there a correlation between cancer and depression? In 2005, the Cancer Journal for Clinicians claimed that diagnosed cases of cancer were 1,372,910. (Jemal, et al., 2005) In 2014, the same clinician journal claimed that diagnosed cases of cancer were 1,665,540. (Siegel, Ma, Zou, & Jemal , 2014) That means that diagnosed cases between the years 2005 and 2014 has risen 8%. Similar results were found in depression statistics. In 2005, The National Center for Health Statistics reported that more than 1 in 20 American’s 12 years or older …show more content…

Numerous studies were carried out on hundreds of patients with different illnesses and scientists found that optimism almost always benefits the patient. “Carotid Atherosclerosis tended to progress more slowly in optimistic women compared to their pessimistic peers.” Epidemiologists reported, alongside their study of oncology patients of which, “Pessimism significantly predicted premature death in young patients with breast cancer.” (Rotondo, Lensi, Vista, Arpone, Reda, 2010). From this it is clear that those optimistic patients with carotid atherosclerosis were progressively in better health than those who were not. Scientists also showed that pessimism quickly accelerated the growth of breast cancer in those patients.
A similar study on the positive effects of optimism was performed on patients with Parkinson’s disease and the British Journal of Health Psychology reported on it. After testing 109 participants with ranging optimistic and pessimistic views scientists reported that, “Positive illness perceptions and high optimism are associated with better well-being in a range of conditions, both chronic and acute.” (Hurt, Burn, Hundle, Samuel, Wilson, & Brown, 2014). Optimistic participants were said to have an overwhelming increase in mortality and over all …show more content…

Scientists from the University stated, “A large, short-term study evaluated the link between optimism and overall health in 2,300 older adults. Over two years, people who had a positive outlook were much more likely to stay healthy and enjoy independent living than their less cheerful peers.” (School, 2008) The Medical Journal also showed that a positive outlook on life increases overall lifespan and improves peoples overall health throughout their whole life. This study showed that not only does optimism benefit those with an illness, it also effects those who are overall healthy

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882 Words | 4 Pages

A young girl had her tonsils removed and became very sick afterwards, the cause was her lingual artery was cut during her tonsillectomy. She stated “My mom called the ENT office and the doctor on call (not the person who performed the surgery and not the person who suctioned out my throat) said that I had to go to the hospital so he could cauterize my throat. When my mom was on the phone, I passed out again. I truly believed that I was going to die. “ Later she explains that her way of staying hopeful, throughout her debacle, was to be optimistic from this quote ”Those words have stuck with me since the surgery.

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297 Words | 2 Pages

Charlie is optimistic about a surgery because all he wants to be is smart ; even though the surgery may not even work. Charlie and Morrie are very optimistic towards other people as well . Charlie is very hopeful that the doctors have designed a successful idea that will make him smarter. He is hopeful that he will fit in with his “friends”. Morrie is optimistic about dying.

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722 Words | 3 Pages

In the “Optimism Bias” TED talk Tali Sharot sheds light on an important theme that we deal with as humans in our daily lives which is Optimism Bias. This theme is translated by Sharot as “our tendency to overestimate our likelihood of experiencing good events in our lives and underestimate our likelihood of experiencing bad events” (Sharot, Optimism Bias). Life is hard. Even if you have a good job and live in a war free country like the US, there are bills to pay, children to rear, aging parents to care for, home repairs, car repairs, and a myriad of deadlines and problems every day. To cope and feel good about ourselves we tend more often than not to irrationally assume glowing futures for us and those we love.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

Depression is defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called…clinical depression, it affects how [a person feels, thinks and behaves] and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. [A sufferer] may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes [may feel as if their] life isn 't worth living” (2015). According to the textbook, approximately twenty percent of Americans will develop major depression in their lifetimes (Etaugh, Bridges, 2013). Among those twenty percent of Americans who suffer from major depression, “women are about twice as likely as men to develop” the condition (Nolen-Hoeksema 2001).

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246 Words | 1 Pages

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines optimistic as “a feeling or belief that good things will happen in the future : a feeling or belief that what you hope for will happen.” I believe a situation can always be made either better or worse

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916 Words | 4 Pages

My roots of optimism can come from many different things and many different places. These things don’t have to be good to give me optimism. One thing that gives me optimism is when I had a stress fracture and bruised a bone in my foot last year. That might seem like something that would make me have less optimism, but that’s not true at all. It shows me that I can get over things even if they seem impossible or hard.

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1114 Words | 5 Pages

More and more people have cancer these days. It is almost like the plague that no one wants to talk about, and it keeps getting worse. • In the early 1900s, one in 20 developed cancer. •

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1556 Words | 7 Pages

An estimated 350 million people suffer from one disorder. This disorder is depression. Depression is a mood disorder that causes one to constantly feel sadness and lose interest. Many people have depression, but only approximately one third of the people with the disorder seek professional help. This could be because some individuals don’t believe that depression is a real depression.

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1113 Words | 5 Pages

Hope During Despair “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference,” said Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Craft). As a dynamic leader during World War II, Churchill demonstrated the power of employing a positive attitude in times of conflict or despair throughout the war, but also specifically in his speech “Blood, Toil, Sweat, and Tears.” On a smaller scale, Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl,” the record of her brutal experience hiding during the war, reiterates the impact a positive outlook can have on difficult situations. Overall, it is clear that maintaining a positive outlook and attitude amidst the hardest times can bring happiness into hopeless situations, is scientifically proven to be healthy, and creates an inspiring, encouraging environment for others.

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873 Words | 4 Pages

While many psychologists are focusing on the benefits of negative emotions, happy emotions are key to one’s happiness. David explains that “More positive emotion is linked to a lower risk of various psychological illnesses, including depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder” (124). It is also proven that the happier one is, the lower the risk is for diseases and allows people to live longer (David 124). While living longer and lowering

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735 Words | 3 Pages

Chasing optimism in the face of challenges is important but, it can be very arduous. One step to obtain optimism is remember that what happens

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1675 Words | 7 Pages

As can be observed in everyday consumerism, there has been an increase in medicinal remedies for treating various modes of suffering. While these remedies are essential for many of those who suffer from these differing forms of illnesses and injuries, the overuse of pharmacological resources has perhaps changed the mass population’s understanding of how recovery occurs. In other words, turning only to medicinal treatments suggests that these methods are the only cure that we can or should rely on to get better. Rather than entirely depend upon the pharmaceutical business that simply focuses on the absence of wellness, positive psychology offers strategies that allow the suffering individual to become conscious of the good in his or her life so that he or she can then build upon these good life factors. In turn, he or she identifies new strengths and abilities in order to generate practical and progressive solutions for decreasing effects of

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975 Words | 4 Pages

However, studies have shown that happiness can cause a person to become carefree, which puts them in dangerous situations. According to David, “An excess of freewheeling giddiness and a relative absence of more sober emotions can even be a marker for mania, a dangerous symptom of psychological illness” (124). Although one of positive psychologists’ goal is to decrease mental illnesses, such as depression, putting too much emphasis on being happy can lead to even more mental illness. The criticism that negative emotions receive can cause a lack of thought about decisions and in the end, can increase the number of people suffering from mental

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802 Words | 4 Pages

Optimism is hopefulness for the future, and, like me, most people get their optimism from their roots, or how they were brought up as a child. My parents would always remind me from a young age that being pessimistic will not help you achieve your goal, so you might as well be optimistic and try. They have always taught me from a young age, and never denied or doubted, that with optimism comes opportunity, and that optimism is, in fact, the key to success. Over the years, I’ve learned that the more optimistic you are, the more creative you can be. With optimistic attitude, one can generate new ideas and create possibilities to move forward faster and more efficiently than at normal times, due to an open mind.

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952 Words | 4 Pages

When we get excited about a new job, the test that we just aced, or whatever the case may be, our emotions tend to reflect in a positive manner. For example, when conducting research on the presence of happiness, the article “Toward a Positive

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