mindfullness as a young cancer survivors

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is a program with high potential to increase the coping skills of survivors of adolescent or young adult cancer. The MSC intervention consists of eight weekly 90-minute online sessions and is led by a qualified instructor. A series of exercises are carried out to cultivate self-compassion in the participants. For example, mindful eating, writing a compassionate letter to oneself, meditations and discussions.

MSC focuses on three components:

  1. Self-kindness (treating oneself with care and compassion in the face of failure or perceived inadequacy).
  2. Common humanity (recognizing that suffering is not in isolation, but is part of the shared human experience)
  3. Mindfulness (awareness and acceptance of difficult emotions, thoughts or physical sensations).

The three components of MSC, which together comprise the definition of self-compassion, may be particularly useful in addressing the common and unique stressors of coping with a life-threatening illness during the developmentally vulnerable adolescent and young adult periods.

What are survivors’ stressors?

Young adults express three categories of psychosocial stress:

  • Social isolation (feeling misunderstood, being unsupported and feeling developmentally “of track” from peers).
  • Body concerns (how the body functions and looks)
  • Health-related anxiety (getting sick again)

How does MSC helps to cope with stressors?

Social isolation

To counteract peer isolation, the MSC curriculum appears useful and relevant as it promotes self-reliance in emotional support, common humanity in the survivor community and awareness of positive support.

Self-reliance for support

Participants are empowered to comfort themselves without relying on others. To do this, they need to develop an awareness of their emotional suffering and then respond to these difficulties with words of kindness and compassion. This is not an easy task and takes time and continuous practice. Some participants noted that they had difficulty finding and trusting their compassionate voice, or noticed that self-kindness made them uncomfortable. However, these challenges are typical for people learning self-compassion for the first time.

Common humanity in the survivor community

Participants should gain comfort and strength by recognizing that they are not alone in suffering and build a sense of connection with the survivor community. Through mediations, awareness of similarities with others and human connectedness are fostered. The intervention group itself also becomes closer over time and is perceived as a source of support.

Mindfulness for positive support

Finally, the course also aims to highlight positive relationships and create awareness of support received. For example, in an exercise in an exercise where participants were guided in imagining a compassionate friend who speaks comforting words, one participant became aware of the positive influence a friend had in her life.

Body concerns

Concerns about how one’s body functions and looks are addressed through self-kindness, gratitude, acceptance and awareness.

Self-kindness towards limitations

The course prompts participants to face their physical symptoms or limitations with kindness and warmth, rather than viewing them as signs of weakness or inadequacy. Accepting one’s own difficulties or inadequacies is encouraged through an exercise in which participants imagine what a compassionate friend might say.

Gratitude for working body parts

Meditations and exercises that involve paying loving attention to body parts evoke a sense of appreciation for one’s own body. Despite all that the body has been through, there are many parts working well and have done hard work in coping with cancer. Body scan exercises allow people to value the working aspects of their body.

Acceptance of the body

Participants are encouraged to notice sensations related to their body without judgement. Particularly body scans encourage to feel connected with one’s own body in its current state without harsh judgment. There may also be mixed feelings of resistance and acceptance towards a body changed by cancer. At best, the exercise is recognized as a journey in which participants gradually become more able to accept their body’s current.

Awareness of difficult emotions

Exercises that bring attention on the physical self can lead participants to become aware of difficult emotions. However, MSC is intended for these very situations, when difficult emotions are present, as it provides a way to cope with emotional pain, to practice self-care and to start the process of healing through acceptance. In these cases, instructors respond to difficult emotions by encouraging participants to be gentle and patient with their negative emotions and to be open to the possibility of acceptance and healing without expecting it to happen right away.

Health-related anxiety

Many survivors talk about the fear of cancer recurrence and the challenge of trying to live in the now and not worry about tomorrow. Mindfulness practices appear useful in combating health-related anxiety.

Mindfulness exercises

“In the moment” mindfulness exercises are trained to shift the focus away from worries about the future and towards the present moment. An example of this is the here-and-now stone, which draws attention to the stone and the present moment as soon as you hold it in your hand.

Body awareness triggers health-related anxiety

On the other hand, some practices (especially bodyscans) also triggered feelings of anxiety or discomfort due to the increased body awareness. Thus, physical sensations or lack of sensations during the exercise were seen as possible signs of recurrence of cancer or other illness. In these moments, the MSC facilitator encourages not to connect or try to explain sensations that occur (or not occur) with a “storyline” and to focus on other parts of the body if necessary.

Mindful Self-Compassion is a valuable intervention to address the psychosocial needs of survivors and support the acquisition of helpful coping skills. It is important to learn and exercise the practices with qualified instructors, as painful emotions may become aware and unpleasant sensations may arise.