Encouraging Optimism in Your Patients for Better Outcomes Power of positive thinking. Looking on the bright side. Find the silver lining. BY APRIL BOYKIN
difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Optimism is hopefulness and confidence that the world is a good place and that things will turn out ok. It is not wishful or fantasy thinking, but rather a way of looking at what life gives you and believing you have some responsibility for its outcomes. Optimists know that you can in fact impact the outcome of life events. The idea that “it isn’t what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you” is the ultimate Optimist mantra, and research backs this up. According to the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the University of Miami Healthy System (and many others) the benefits of being an optimist include the following: • Protects against mortality risk.
Many of us have heard these quotes as platitudes when we’ve been faced with real challenges in our lives. Today we know they are more than that, today we know that Optimistic people live longer and have a better quality of life! They are happier, healthier, and deal with health and environmental challenges better, improving their overall health outcomes. Researchers have long identified risk factors for disease states and death but have only just begun to explore the emotional and psychological protective factors in aging. According to a 2018 Boston University School of Medicine study, women and men who are optimistic have an 11-15 percent longer lifespan and have 50-70 percent greater odds of reaching 85 years old. These people are believed to be more resilient and better able to regulate stressors, and to bounce back better from adversity. They also tend to be healthier, engage more consistently with self-care such as exercise and ultimately believe they can affect their own well-being. Winston Churchill once said, "A pessimist sees the
• Promotes resilient aging, it’s the best anti-aging drug out there. • Promotes a longer life span with a 30 percent chance of living to 85 years and older. • Improves one’s ability to beat cancer, specifically with many studies in the area of breast cancer. • Creates overall better health. • Creates more enjoyment of love in life, with more and varied loving friendships and family
10
||
ORLANDOMEDICALNEWS.COM
||
APRIL 2021
relationships. • Improves career and family stress management. • Promotes the experiences of less stress overall in all aspects of life. It is important to know that most people are pessimistic to some degree. In fact, our brains are wired to look out for things that may put us in danger, creating a pattern of pessimistic perceptions that have kept us safe for thousands of years. However, being too good at pessimism can negatively impact your wellbeing because it causes you to only see the negative options in your life. The good news is that only about 25 percent of our wiring accounts for our attitudes of optimism or pessimism, and the rest is made up of our environment, social support and learned behaviors. Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, believes optimism like many other skills can be learned. Dr. Seligman found that people who learned optimism techniques were far less likely to develop depression, anxiety and also enjoyed improved overall health. As healthcare professionals, you can greatly impact your patients’ health and wellness by integrating language and techniques in their care that facilitate the development of optimism with your patients.
