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Emotional support
 Emotional support is a powerful stress buster. Emotional support can come from sympathetic and compassionate family, friends or health professionals but seems to be particularly effective when you can share your burdens and fears with others who are experiencing similar problems.
Many may not seek emotional support because they feel it is a sign of weakness. Similarly, some avoid going to psychiatrists and psychologists to obtain emotional support because of the possible stigma associated with the need to depend on such services. Others with debilitating diseases like AIDS and cancer who are ashamed of or don't want others to know of their condition may also avoid obtaining emotional support.
Fortunately, these attitudes have changed in recent decades as evidence of the effectiveness of strong emotional support has mounted. Organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Shoppers Anonymous and other groups that deal with addictions to drugs, smoking or reducing compulsive behaviors all owe their success to their ability to provide emotional support.
This comes from sharing things with strangers, getting things of your chest, and learning how others have been able to deal with or conquer the same problem you have. Many of these groups provide addition emotional support by utilizing a "buddy system" – someone you can call at any time if you feel you are slipping into your old habits and who can give you emotional support when you need it the most.
Some skeptics have claimed that there is no scientific proof to support the benefits of emotional support. Most groups simply offer anecdotal reports that emphasize success stories without indicating dropout or recidivism rates. In addition, what are the mechanisms of action that explain the rewards of strong emotional support?
These criticisms have largely been answered by careful clinical trials that have confirmed the benefits of emotional support in various disorders. One of the earliest was a 1989 report showing that women with metastatic breast cancer who participated in a weekly emotional support group lived longer than controls receiving the same treatment but without group emotional support. The study had actually been undertaken by a skeptic to demonstrate that emotional support would have little effect. He was also worried that the emotional support group might actually prove harmful for many who were depressed because their cancers had returned. This would be especially true as strangers who had become friends began to die from their disease so that any improvement from emotional support would be outweighed by this additional stress. The results were surprising. After 10 years, 83 of the 86 women had died, but those in the emotional support group lived twice as long as controls receiving only standard care and also reported a significantly better quality of life.
Similar and even more startling results from group emotional support were subsequently obtained in patients diagnosed with malignant melanoma. They were randomly assigned to a control group or an emotional support group where stress management, coping strategies and relaxation skills were taught for 90 minutes once a week for just six weeks. The results of this brief emotional support intervention were startling. Six years later participants in the emotional support group had a significantly higher survival rate, a much lower recurrence rate and better psychological function than controls. Another study showed that early breast and prostate cancer patients who participated in an eight-week emotional support group had twice the survival of controls who simply received conventional treatment.
It's not essential to have group emotional support. Emotional support from family or friends has also been shown to improve survival in ovarian cancer as well as following a heart attack, stroke and major surgery. Even having a pet can provide beneficial emotional support. In many of these studies, emotional support was associated with improved immune system function, which could explain some of its rewards. You can learn more about emotional support at the Topics of Interest and other www.stress.org pages.
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