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Pulmonary group finds chronically ill patients benefit from group therapy

  By Suzanne Roto Lake, PsyD

ince the onset of managed healthcare, physicians are increasingly under the gun to be productive. With time and resources at premium value, patients’ medical problems must be addressed as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, one of the byproducts of this push for efficiency is that doctors have less opportunity than ever to engage with patients as individuals with complex personalities, lives, and emotional components to their medical disorder.

Sometimes, patients will say they feel that we’re not paying attention to them as whole persons. And the truth is, we’re not,” says pulmonologist Prataf Saraf M.D. “We are focusing primarily on the medical problems, and sometimes that’s where we have to leave it.”

Many physicians are uncomfortable with this situation on a philosophical basis, since it tends to dehumanize the practice of medicine. However, there is also a growing body of scientific evidence that optimal health and healing may depend on acknowledging the emotional aspect. The fact that pyschoneuro-immunology, which studies the interplay of psychology, neurology, and the immune system, has recently emerged as a major field is one clear indication.

Scientific research has established both a theoretical basis and strong empirical evidence for a causal impact of social relationships on health, according to published research. Patient support groups, with their strong emphasis on constructive social interaction and conscientious self-care, are one practical manifestation of this connection. The positive effects of patient support groups in treating seriously ill patients have been demonstrated.

Researchers have, for example, successfully developed their hypothesis that support groups composed of women and metastatic breast cancer can significantly improve mood and increase longevity over control groups. Their groups focused on discussing specific salient issues, including fears of death and the dying process, working through doctor-patient problems, and enhancing family support. The results of this work, and others, suggest that may medical patients – not just those with metastatic breast cancer – might similarly benefit. The Wellness Community is just one organization that has recognized the value of psychosocial support groups for patients with all forms of cancer.

Foothill Pulmonary and Critical Care, a large Pasadena-based medical group, decided to implement the concept of support groups for patients once it was recognized that certain patients appeared to need more emotional support in dealing with their medical conditions that the practice was prepared to provide, and that these needs were interfering with their medical progress, says Peter Browne MD, a physician with the group.

“As a medical doctor, I would sometimes feel that patients wanted from me that I couldn’t give them. We hoped that a patient support group might fill that need.”

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