As a cancer survivor myself, I enjoy working with cancer patients, to help improve quality-of-life while they go through treatment. We do this by addressing symptoms that may arise practically and imaginatively. Living with uncertainty, pain, and compromised physical ability takes a cumulative toll. I am here to help.
dr. jenny holland
Living with uncertainty, pain and compromised physical ability
Dr. Jenny Holland PsyD was once diagnosed with Neuroendocrine cancer and is now a cancer survivor. She has lived with chronic pain her whole life due to Cerebral Palsy. These experiences give Dr. Holland a unique perspective and a deep understanding of what it is like to live with chronic illness and a life-threatening diagnosis. “As a cancer survivor, I enjoy working with others with cancer to improve quality-of-life while going through treatment, by addressing symptoms that may arise practically and imaginatively,”
From Isolation to Community
Following the pandemic, many people are finding it difficult to reunite with their social groups. Social isolation and loneliness are associated with behaviors that negatively impact cardiovascular and brain health, such as lower levels of self-reported physical activity, low nutritional intake, and a more sedentary lifestyle. Multiple large studies found significant associations between loneliness and a higher likelihood of smoking and other addictive habits. Taking charge of your mental health to overcome isolation and loneliness will make life worth living again, and it might just save your life.
New study asks: Does watching the news make us sick?
High risk individuals frequently became so immersed and personally invested in news stories that the stories dominated the individual’s waking thoughts, disrupted time with family and friends, made it difficult to focus on school or work, and contributed to restlessness and an inability to sleep. Perhaps not surprisingly, people with higher levels of problematic news consumption were significantly more likely to experience mental and physical ill-being than those with lower levels, even when controlling for demographics, personality traits, and overall news use.
Stress as a risk factor in older adults can be mitigated with intervention
Researchers found, on average, participants who reported more stress in their lives experienced a steeper decline in functional health over three years, and that link between stress and functional health decline was stronger for chronologically older participants.
However, subjective age seemed to provide a protective buffer. Among people who felt younger than their chronological age, the link between stress and declines in functional health was weaker. That protective effect was strongest among the oldest participants.
Emotional well-being gets a boost from optimism
Researchers followed 233 older men who first completed an optimism questionnaire; 14 years later, they reported daily stressors along with positive and negative moods on eight consecutive evenings up to three times over an eight-year span. The researchers found more optimistic men reported not only lower negative mood but also more positive mood (beyond simply not feeling negative). They also reported having fewer stressors which was unrelated to their higher positive mood but explained their lower levels of negative mood.