Mind-Body Therapies in Cancer: What Is the Latest Evidence?
Abstract
Purpose of review Many people living with cancer use complementary therapies, and some of the most popular are mind-body therapies (MBTs), including relaxation and imagery, hypnosis, yoga, meditation, tai chi and qigong, and art therapies. The efficacy of these modalities was reviewed by assessing recent findings in the context of cancer care. Recent findings These therapies show efficacy in treating common cancer-related side effects, including nausea and vomiting, pain, fatigue, anxiety, depressive symptoms and improving overall quality of life. Some also have effects on biomarkers such as immune function and stress hormones. Overall studies lack large sample sizes and active comparison groups. Common issues around clearly defining treatments including standardizing treatment components, dose, intensity, duration and training of providers make generalization across studies difficult. MBTs in cancer care show great promise and evidence of efficacy for treating many common symptoms. Future studies should investigate more diverse cancer populations using standardized treatment protocols and directly compare various MBTs to one another.
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A 2017 review reported improvements in QL, depression, and mood disturbance from art therapy for PLWC.
“In a 2017 review, studies on art therapy for PLWC reported improvements in QL, depression, and mood disturbance (Carlson et al. 2017).”
From Psychosocial and Integrative Oncology: Interventions Across the Disease Trajectory. (2023) · cites this paper as Carlson et al. 2017
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- Authors
- Carlson, L. E., Zelinski, E., Toivonen, K., Flynn, M., Qureshi, M., Piedalue, K.-A., & Grant, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Carlson, Linda E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Current Oncology Reports
- Published
- 2017-08-18
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 67-67
- ISSN
- 1523-3790 (ISSN-L)
- 1534-6269
- OpenAlex
- W2747197011
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 13
- FWCI
- 1.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Oncology Reports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- mind-body interventions, complementary therapy, cancer, hypnosis, yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, qigong, art therapy, cancer symptoms, nausea and vomiting, pain, fatigue, anxiety, depressive symptoms, quality of life, immune function, stress hormones, treatment standardization
- MeSH terms
- Complementary Therapies, Anxiety, Humans, Hypnosis, Neoplasms, Quality of Life, Yoga, Meditation, Tai Ji
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