Cancer, unproven therapies, and magic

Commonly used by cancer patients, unproven therapies are treatments that the practitioner claims can alter the disease process although there is no proof to support the claim. The reasons for the popularity of unproven therapies fall into two categories--practical considerations and fundamental mechanisms. Research has implicated the following practical factors: a pragmatic search for relief of symptoms, expression of a philosophical view, a need to reestablish a sense of control in life, and dissatisfaction with conventional medicine. Fundamental mechanisms include traditional magic, the heroic individual, and a delusional pattern of thinking. Underpinning and generating these factors is the fear of death. Particularly in patients with cancer, this is not only a fear of nonexistence, but of loneliness, the unknown, pain, loss of control, and emptiness. The popularity of unproven therapies poses a challenge to the medical system at large, and oncologists, psycho-oncologists, and palliative-care physicians, in particular. The essence of the challenge is to understand the reasons for the use of unproven therapies, to analyze our own behavior, and conclude what if anything our response should be. Unproven therapies (as with magic, a sense of heroism, and delusional thinking) fulfill the function of resolving the inexplicable and the psychologically painful--i.e., relieving the anxiety associated with cancer.