Mindfulness in Follow-Up Care after Breast Cancer: Can It Prevent Recurrence?

Abstract

This review focuses on the question whether mindfulness in follow-up care can contribute to the prevention of breast cancer (BC) recurrence. We first introduce behavioral risk and protective factors in follow-up care by presenting current research outcomes modulating individual risk for recurrence. We argue that although increased self-awareness is undoubtedly beneficial for BC survivors, it may also trigger adverse effects in vulnerable individuals such as overarousal and impaired emotional regulation. Indeed, research shows that many BC survivors are often confronted with clinical levels of fear of recurrence and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Research on awareness about the impact of behavior on health and fear of recurrence also offers interesting insights which can help to better understand non-compliant responses of BC survivors to medical recommendations regarding lifestyle or screening in follow-up care. Given the high rate of clinically relevant symptoms such as fear of recurrence and anxiety that may be related to dysfunctional levels of self-monitoring, we review the effects of a therapeutic intervention called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that appears promising in reintegrating self-observation with patient well-being.