Part 1 of 2 with Dr. Manuela Kogon, Integrative Medicine Internist, Professor and author of “When Cancer Visits: How to Free Your Mind from the Grip of Distress and Heal Your Jolted Nervous System.” Dr. Kogon specializes in mind-body medicine and non-pharmacological treatment of illness distress and talks about the internal and external stimuli that drive stress. She discusses the unique uncertainty that comes with cancer survivorship and how to live your life with daily living versus longer term planning. For those living with cancer, Dr. Kogan talks about the question of quantity vs. quality of life, and how patient values might not always match with those of their loved ones. She also talks about how expansion of these principles to other cultures needs to be nuanced to appropriately account for differences in the cancer experience. 

Key highlights:

About our guest:

Manuela Kogon is an integrative medicine internist in private practice and a clinical professor at a large university. Dr. Kogon has devoted her life to patients in distress and has helped them connect to their innate ability to heal. She divides her time between California, Europe and rural Massachusetts and is looking forward to the day when humans rediscover their ability to be emotionally present for their fellow beings. You can learn more about her book “When Cancer Visits: How to Free Your Mind from the Grip of Distress and Heal Your Jolted Nervous System here.

Key Moments:

19 minutes: On external vs. internal stimuli that drives stress - To separate external stimulation from internal stimulation, when people talk about fight, flight and freeze: if I put a gun to your head you’ve got to be activated, and you’ve got to fight back and run. But people aren’t fully aware that their internal system activates them, too. Someone with fear, if their heart beats faster might say ‘Oh my goodness, am I having a heart attack’ Or someone with pain might say ‘Oh, is my cancer might be back?’ And that’s a very activating thought. So I make people aware if that activation is external or internal.

22 minutes: On how to live while grappling with uncertainty and fear as a cancer survivor - So that’s an important thing, but uncertainty and unpredictability; it’s like ‘how do I manage my life if I don’t know?’ Am I now going out to live life as though it’s coming to an end tomorrow or do I live life as if I’m going to live another 40 or 50 years? That’s a very different approach to life. And in some ways, you have to do both.

38 minutes: On living with cancer and the cost-benefit analysis of quantity vs. quality of life - You’re caught between all these choices and this optimization of very difficult choices. There’s never a good answer, there’s only a cost-benefit analysis in that if the cost of taking the medicine is that high, and the benefit is this, but if I look at the cost, it’s attached to another cost – it’s a complicated decision making algorithm that’s overwhelming.

Visit the Manta Cares website

Disclaimer: This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is at the user's own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard, or delay in obtaining, medical advice for any medical condition they may have, and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.