Breast cancer is a debilitating and many times fatal disease that will affect approximately 215,990 women in the United States alone this year. Treatment for breast cancer can involve many physically and psychologically straining features. The illness perception theory states that individuals form illness representations to make sense of health threats and illness. These representations contain a number of individual, specific attributes about the illness identity, and cause, time-line, consequences of, and cure/control of the illness. Many women who have experienced breast cancer have also been found to be keeping their thoughts inside. Thought suppression has been linked to many negative consequences, such as anxiety and depression. To investigate, a writing paradigm was introduced to breast cancer patients as survivors. An expected link between expressive writing and a decrease in thought suppression was examined, yet not found to exist. Themes and case examples are provided.
","abstract_html":"<p>Breast cancer is a debilitating and many times fatal disease that will affect approximately 215,990 women in the United States alone this year. Treatment for breast cancer can involve many physically and psychologically straining features. The illness perception theory states that individuals form illness representations to make sense of health threats and illness. These representations contain a number of individual, specific attributes about the illness identity, and cause, time-line, consequences of, and cure/control of the illness. Many women who have experienced breast cancer have also been found to be keeping their thoughts inside. Thought suppression has been linked to many negative consequences, such as anxiety and depression. To investigate, a writing paradigm was introduced to breast cancer patients as survivors. An expected link between expressive writing and a decrease in thought suppression was examined, yet not found to exist. Themes and case examples are provided.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bantum, Erin O'Carroll"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Michael Galbraith","Hector Betancourt","Mark Haviland"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2005,"date_issued":"2005-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2005-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:59Z","subjects":["Neoplasms","Psychology","Women's Health","Breast Neoplasms -- psychology; Women -- psychology; Adaptation, Psychological"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/670","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Michael Galbraith","Hector Betancourt","Mark Haviland"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bantum, Erin O'Carroll"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Neoplasms","Psychology","Women's Health","Breast Neoplasms -- psychology; Women -- psychology; Adaptation, Psychological"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/670"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Breast cancer is a debilitating and many times fatal disease that will affect approximately 215,990 women in the United States alone this year. Treatment for breast cancer can involve many physically and psychologically straining features. The illness perception theory states that individuals form illness representations to make sense of health threats and illness. These representations contain a number of individual, specific attributes about the illness identity, and cause, time-line, consequences of, and cure/control of the illness. Many women who have experienced breast cancer have also been found to be keeping their thoughts inside. Thought suppression has been linked to many negative consequences, such as anxiety and depression. To investigate, a writing paradigm was introduced to breast cancer patients as survivors. An expected link between expressive writing and a decrease in thought suppression was examined, yet not found to exist. Themes and case examples are provided.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Thought Suppression Change in Cancer Patients and Survivors After Writing"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Michael Galbraith","Hector Betancourt","Mark Haviland"],"dc:creator":["Bantum, Erin O'Carroll"],"dc:description.abstract":["Breast cancer is a debilitating and many times fatal disease that will affect approximately 215,990 women in the United States alone this year. Treatment for breast cancer can involve many physically and psychologically straining features. The illness perception theory states that individuals form illness representations to make sense of health threats and illness. These representations contain a number of individual, specific attributes about the illness identity, and cause, time-line, consequences of, and cure/control of the illness. Many women who have experienced breast cancer have also been found to be keeping their thoughts inside. Thought suppression has been linked to many negative consequences, such as anxiety and depression. To investigate, a writing paradigm was introduced to breast cancer patients as survivors. An expected link between expressive writing and a decrease in thought suppression was examined, yet not found to exist. Themes and case examples are provided.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/670"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:rights":["This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights."],"dc:subject":["Neoplasms","Psychology","Women's Health","Breast Neoplasms -- psychology; Women -- psychology; Adaptation, Psychological"],"dc:title":["Thought Suppression Change in Cancer Patients and Survivors After Writing"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:52:59Z"}