Telos Journal Edition Four November 2013 | Page 5

the word cancer. Each concept of cancer has different representations for each person; thus when cancer is discussed, in general or in particular, people are often talking about different things, she tells me. “Cancer is a term that refers to many different diseases, over 150, granted they have the common thread that cells with normal growth start to become uncontrolled.” Without pointing any gnarled fingers, she reveals the dim result, that the public suffers from an umbrella term instead of the information it needs to prevent the deadly disease, preventions which she says are overwhelmingly possible in different types of cancer, for example, smoking’s connection to lung cancer. Moving beyond mere terms, she is more interested in what really, actively sparks this uncontrolled growth of cells that run rampantly beyond the body’s regulatory power. For Dr. Cathirose, it is unconditionally imperative that we not only gain a sense of mindfulness but that we utilize it to make measurably deliberated choices—choices whereby we weigh all apparent options and conditions, internally orchestrated and externally introduced—when it comes to our very own health and futures. She also has a bone to pick with those in her field who stake claims of universal remedies without irrefutable verifications. The aim of all reasonable data testing is to seek a robust methodology by exposing the difference between correlational data and evidence. There’s a key difference; and the key to evidential data is uniformity, she adds. Risk factors have strong correlations with certain diseases, but correlational data is premature evidence, so it’s not evidence at all. For medical evidence to hold its own water, and for malignant causes to be unquestionable causes, it must reduce all tested factors to one causal effect. Her professional field looks for a 95% rate of statistical proof for a cause to be deemed universally true and used with confidence in the medical literature. But no one offers any treatment with such substantiated confidence. This is why patient trust in their treatments is so utterly vital; this is where mindfulness ought to come into full play. When therapy promoters don’t harness enough evidence, they rashly exercise ‘confirmation ????d???????????????????????????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????((