I'm pleased to know the leading cancer institute in the world is in accord with a number of clinicians and investigators like myself throughout the nation. We are deeply concerned, committed and dedicated to meeting the emotional and spiritual needs of each person who faces the day-to-day challenges of cancer. Yet as healthcare providers we seem to be in the minority.

Despite the fact that the American Cancer Society (ACS) has mandated a year 2015 nationwide objective for access or referral to providers addressing psychological, emotional and spiritual needs, I'm convinced the majority of physicians in our society do not take this seriously. Cancer programs, service organizations and support groups throughout our nation that deal with these issues often do not receive adequate referrals from community physicians who seem reticent to open Pandora’s Box.

In a commentary published by the New England Journal of Medicine June 3, 1999, Jimmie C. Holland, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center summed it up as follows: "We must reassert the principle that we treat the person, not the disease alone. This basic principle seems in some jeopardy today, when at least some patients, for whatever reason, do not tell us about their distress and do not expect that we will treat it as part of their conventional medical care."

Dr. Holland was addressing the fact that most women who seek alternative care apart from the conventional medical establishment do so because of often overwhelming distress which is not appropriately addressed in the conventional healthcare setting.

Yet the problem doesn’t rest solely with physicians’ attitudes or disbelief. Healthcare insurers must accept their humanistic responsibility to cover psychosocial services enabling each person to take an active and positive role in their health and well-being. Arguments that such care is not cost-effective hold no merit.

For an effective partnership between the patient and the healthcare provider can only evolve when one learns to effectively cope with an illness in a constructive manner. Such a collaborative approach naturally generates benefits on multiple levels.

So how does one learn to "Look well, therefore, to this day" as the NCI suggests? The answer lies in asserting one's self to seek out meaningful opportunities to maximize the quality of our lives through education, nurturing, support and guidance whenever possible. It's time we demanded the best whole person care possible, taking our lives and our futures into our own hands - Mind Over Matter!