Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery

Mindfulness is thought of as nonjudgmental present-moment awareness of experience; a simple practice that can be life changing and transformative, yet is often misunderstood. In this engaging and powerful talk Dr. Carlson shares her insights into the why, what and how of practicing mindfulness, gleaned from nearly 20 years teaching mindfulness-based stress reduction to thousands of patients and researching its benefits in healthcare settings

Dr. Linda Carlson is a Clinical Psychologist at the Department of Psychosocial Resources at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary. She joins us today to discuss the mental programming initiatives at the Tom Baker as well as to address the broader topic of cleaning your mind of stress and distractions and the physiological benefits it can have on cancer recovery. Carlson leads a couple stimulating brain and yoga exercises, as well as dissecting some key research on brain therapy and how it is changing how we treat illness.

• Mindfulness is defined as present-moment nonjudgmental awareness of current experience
• Training in mindfulness meditation as a way to cultivate mindfulness in daily life has become increasingly popular for both the general public and for people coping with cancer
• Our program called Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery is an 8-week training program which introduces participants to a range of meditation and yoga techniques to help those living with cancer
• Our research results show improvements in stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue, sleep and other symptoms in cancer survivors

2020 was a crucial year and brought on many new and reoccurring stressors not unlike the uncertainties of those faced with a cancer diagnosis. Mental health is now, more than ever, at the forefront of all our minds.
 

We sat down to chat with Dr. Linda Carlson, professor in the Faculty of Medicine and co-author of The Art and Science of Mindfulness (full biography below). She defines mindfulness as “Paying attention on purpose in the present moment with an open and accepting attitude." During the hour, Dr. Carlson helped break down what mindfulness is, provided research-based examples of how it can help reduce stress, support mental health during cancer and gave us practical mindfulness tips that can be beneficial in your everyday professional and personal lives.

There is a growing body of literature supporting the use of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) for helping people cope with chronic illness, including cardiovascular disease, irritable bowel syndrome, pain, HIV/AIDS and many other conditions. Our own work developing and testing the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery (MBCR) program in cancer patients and survivors has spanned over 20 years and investigated a range of outcomes covering psychological symptomatology such as mood, stress, anxiety and depression, as well as common disease and treatment side-effects including sleep, fatigue and pain. We have also investigated biomarkers including blood pressure, cardiovascular and cortisol acute stress reactivity, daily salivary cortisol slopes, pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and telomere length. Recently we have been testing online interactive synchronous and app-based versions of the MBCR program for patients both during and after treatment, in an effort to improve accessibility and reach of MBIs.

Dr. Linda Carlson holds the Enbridge Research Chair in Psychosocial Oncology, is an Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Health Scholar, Full Professor in Psychosocial Oncology in the Department of Oncology, and an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on mindfulness-based interventions in cancer care.