It Was My Personality ? ! ? !
The news headline that just made its way across my desk read: No Link Found Between Personality Traits And Cancer Risk. I thought, are you kidding me? Someone really thought our personalities had something to do with it?
Well, apparently in 1996, Eveline Bleiker, Ph.D., of The Netherlands Cancer Institute (and colleagues) found a weak association between the development of breast cancer and “antiemotionality” — a lack of emotional behavior or trust in one’s own feelings.
They key word there was weak — there was a weak link. But now that study has been debunked. “The researchers did not find any personality trait or personality profile that was associated with increased breast cancer risk.” Of course they didn’t. Come on people.
It’s amazing to me that they put money and effort into that one.
Alright, I’ll try to be objective. Maybe it would be prudent to discover if there was indeed an association between a certain personality trait and breast cancer incidence. But really, what would they do with that information? Say to women, ‘hey, you seem a little unemotional, you better watch out, you might get breast cancer?’ Right … that would happen. (Dripping with sarcasm, of course.) Or maybe, ‘change — your life depends upon it.’ Please. There are so many other things that could have been researched with that money!
I think we really need to remember something — news headlines are just that … headlines. You have to read the whole story to understand what they are talking about.
And, this whole story is pretty clear: your personality had nothing to do with the fact that you got breast cancer.
breast cancer, cancer, health, wellness, health and wellness, personality
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