Psychology

There are varying perspectives on the efficacy of breast self examinations.  Some people believe that conducting breast self examinations are important for identifying odd growths in the breast early in the course of breast cancer development.  They think that breast self examinations are critical in identifying breast cancer in its early stages.  However, there are also people who contend that the performance of breast self examinations have not been proven to have any benefit.  They believe that there are no known correlations between conducting breast self examinations and preventing breast cancer progression.  When women conduct breast self exams, they should be aware that it may be helpful to locate odd growths in the breast but that breast self examinations have not been proven to be linked to having any health benefit.  In conducting breast self exams, I experience an array of emotional feelings, some positive and some negative.

When conducting a breast self exam, I have the feeling that perhaps I am doing something to assure myself of breast health or maybe I am locating something which may be an illness.  The feeling that that I may be making certain that I have healthy breasts makes me feel good.  I am comfortable with feeling my skin and tissues to check and be sure that everything feels normal.  However, in conducting a breast self exam from the perspective of perhaps finding something negative, an illness or strange lump, I feel scared and uncertain.  Part of me believes that I am not an expert and that breast cancer can be best found by mammograms and not by my own surface judgment.

In general, breast self exams are not widely accepted as the best means of locating a problem and promote a diverse range of feelings in the person conducting the self exam.  Perhaps what would make me the most comfortable would be to begin getting mammograms done at the age of 50, which is recommended by many practitioners in effective breast cancer detection.  Breast self exams initiate a range of differing personal emotions and are not yet proven to be an essential element of health care.