Health News

Friendship Good for What Ails You

March 21, 2001 -- Down and troubled? Do you need a helping hand? Well, you're in luck -- if, as James Taylor and Carole King remind us daily on classic rock radio, "You've got a friend."

It's an old song, but new research puts a fresh twist on it by suggesting that friendship and social support can actually save lives. In fact, according to studies presented this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Monterey, Calif., social support from friends, family members, and even pets can help people with cancer and other illnesses live longer.

Just ask colon cancer survivor Dolores Schumann, a travel consultant in Brooklyn, N.Y. The power of friendship was instrumental in helping her get through some mighty dark days when she was first diagnosed five years ago.

"When I thought everything was at its worst, my friends would say, 'It's gonna be fine,'" she tells WebMD. "They came with me when I had chemotherapy and laughed and made jokes, even though I was miserable. They called every day, mostly to make me laugh.

Schumann's family was there beside her as well. Along with her belief in God, a wonderful oncologist, and the undying devotion of her Yorkshire terrier, Misha, they were a social safety net that helped Schumann keep her spirits high even when the situation looked grim, she says.

Not only that, their support actually could have played a key role in keeping her alive and in speeding her recovery, according to the new research.

One study found that women with breast cancer lived longer over a 7-year period and had less chance of relapse if their social support network was large and strong. Karen Weihs, MD, of the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., came to this conclusion after studying 90 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Among the women she studied, those who listed nine supportive people they could call on for help were just 60% as likely to die or have a cancer recurrence than the women who listed six or fewer people in their support network.

Another study found that women with breast cancer who logged on to Internet-based support groups were less distressed than women who didn't. This beneficial side effect of participating in such groups seems to spring from the physical act of writing about strong emotions and feelings, according to researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, rather then keeping it all bottled in.

While researchers are not sure exactly how social support exerts its life-extending effects, the hormone oxytocin may be involved, according to researchers from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Oxytocin, a hormone best known for its role in inducing labor in pregnant women, also has been called "the hormone of love" for its possible role in helping us form and maintain healthy interpersonal relationships and healthy psychological boundaries with other people.