By GINA KOLATA
       Contrary to popular opinion, sup-
     port groups do not extend the lives
     women with advanced breast cancer
     according to a large study being pub-
     lished today.  The study disputes
     belief that has been stated so often
     is almost considered a truism - that
     the mind influences the course
     advanced cancer so powerfully that
     patients can hold off death by getting
     emotional support in a group.
       The investigators began their
     study because they were concerned
     that many patients felt obligated to
     join support groups, whether they
     wanted to or not, to fight their can-
     cer.  Many were convinced of their
     benefit by a small and inconclusive
     study published more than a decade
     ago indicating the groups could sub-
     stantially prolong patients' lives.
      So the investigators, led by Dr.
     Pamela J. Goodwin, a medical oncol-
     ogist at Mount Sinai Hospital of the
     University of Toronto, recruited 235
     women with advanced breast cancer,
     assigning 158 to attend support
     groups and 77 not to attend the
     groups, for comparison.  Those as-
     signed to support groups had a medi-
     an survival time of 17.9 months.
     Those who did not go to the groups
     had a median survival time of 17.6
     months, an insignificant difference.