Friends are Simply Good Medicine!

I wrote to the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, where Dr. Oliver works, and Ms. Christensen, the Communications Director there, was truly kind enough to promptly respond and explain how...

"No press release or particular new research involved here:
WCAX, Channel 3's Upper Valley correspondent, Adam Sullivan, was simply looking for an MS expert to talk a bit about the disease, and about progress in treatment and research, as a teaser for a feature story about an MS patient. The media relations people at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center asked around the MS Center, and Brant Oliver kindly and promptly stepped up to the plate.
Brant did discuss with Sullivan the possibility of doing a story, somewhere down the line, about the support group Brant leads for patients and families of patients.
That's how it all came about; hope that this helps."

There's been a lot of research on the value of and social support networks over the last few decades.

Over 20 years ago, N.Y. Times Health columnist Jane Brody wrote about "Personal Health: Maintaining Friendships for the Sake of Your Health" (J.E. Brody, New York Times, Feb 5, 1992, p. C12). In her column, Brody described how the Duke University research done then examined the value of social support to the life expectancy of cardiac clients. She cited how in her interview, one researcher noted how “Simply put, a support group may be as effective as costly medical treatment."


But I think Dr. Koop said it best when he wrote...

"My years as a medical practitioner, as well as my own first-hand experience, have taught me how important self-help groups are in assisting their members in dealing with problems, stress, hardship and pain... the benefits of mutual aid are experienced by millions of people who turn to others with a similar problem to attempt to deal with their isolation, powerlessness, alienation, and the awful feeling that nobody understands... Health and human service providers are learning that they can indeed provide a superior service when they help their patients and clients find appropriate peer support."
- former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD