The impact of cognitive rehabilitation on working memory and verbal fluency in dyslexic students (a single case study)

There is ample evidence suggesting that the relationship between psychological, social and spiritual issues plays a significant role on the biological systems of the patients, including the immune system. Breast cancer patients usually face significant psychological problems such as probability of recurrence, progression of the disease, and death, additionally to issues related to body image. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of group spiritual therapy on serum levels of Cytokine interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha among patients (women) with breast cancer. Therefor, in a semi-experimental study, 16 patients with breast cancer referred to Shohada Tajrish Hospital in Tehran were purposefully selected and randomly divided into experimental and control group (n=8). The experimental group received 12 sessions of spiritual therapy. The serum levels of Cytokine interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha of subjects in both groups were measured by the kits for measuring Cytokines (made in France by Daya Clone) before and after the intervention and also at three month follow up. Multivariate analysis of variance of serum levels of Cytokine interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha revealed the significant effectiveness of spiritual therapy in reducing serum levels of Cytokine interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha in women suffering from the breast cancer. It can be concluded that using the spiritual therapy in the treatment of patients with breast cancer can be useful in their recovery by reducing the serum levels of Cytokine interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha and therefore reducing the levels of anxiety.