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Mind and body relationships in healing
MIND AND BODY RELATIONSHIPS IN HEALING
COPYRIGHTS 02/03/1949-93 By Dr. Robert B. Johnstone
PO BOX 5122 Anaheim, Ca
Ancient History
Traditional cultures and modern society with unbroken connections to ancient
societies like India and China have always assumed that there was a connection
between mind and body. In this sense, modern society is peculiar. One of our
dominant "intellectual" assumptions is that mind and body are separate--a
belief that had extended to professional levels where specialists such as
physicians and biologists seldom considered the role of thoughts and feelings
on physical phenomena.
This view reached a pinnacle of sorts with behavioral psychology. Behaviorists
decided that what we call mind is nothing but a subset of brain activity and
what we call consciousness is irrelevant. That behavior can be understood
strictly in terms of responses that we can observe. Whether this represented a
-More-scientific precision or the height of absurdity depended on our point of view.
To many, the modern attitude indicated progress-- Others, however, regarded it
as dangerous, arrogant, and narrow minded confusion between what is real and
what is convenient. To dissenters, mind and body can not be separated, either
in theory or in practice, even if convenient to pretend otherwise. They
believe that mental events can influence the condition of the body (not just
the brain, but other organs as well) and that behavior or medical disorders can
only be understood properly when both body and mind (including emotions,
attitudes and beliefs) are taken into consideration.
This point of view has always had its adherents. Over 2,000 years ago Plato
wrote, "The great error in the treatment of the human body is that physicians
are ignorant of the whole. For the parts can never be well, unless the whole
is well." Plato would have felt comfortable in one of the new holistic health
centers that are popping up all over the United States. So, too, would
Pracelsus, the 15th century physician who is often called the father of modern
medicine... "The spirit is the master," he wrote, "imagination is the tool,
and the body the material... The power of the imagination is a great factor in
medicine.
Einstein said, "Imagination is more powerful than knowledge."
-More-Today, the view that the body can be influenced by thoughts and emotion has
been popularized by Freudian theories. However, the philosophical point was
obscured by the sexier elements of Freudianism and by the academic infatuation
with behaviorism. It was not until the 60's when a fresh generation gave birth
to humanistic psychology or the holistic health movement and hypnotherapy, that
the idea of a mutually dependent, essentially unified body/mind started to
enjoy broad acceptance.
The maxim or belief of the new movement was best stated by Dr Elmer Green, an
early biofeedback pioneer...at the Menninger Foundation who said, "Every change
in the physiological state is accompanied by an appropriate change in the
mental-emotional state, and conversely, every change in the mental-emotional
state is accompanied by an appropriate change in the physiological state."
Biofeedback (bio meaning life) is a technique where modern scientific equipment
is used to monitor results while using hypnosis, and feeding this information
back to the patient accelerates the process... Because of information developed
in biofeedback research, hypnosis has become much more effective...
With respect to disease, the position of the Hypnotherapist is summed up in
this statement by Dr. Dennis Jaffe, in the book, Healing From within;
"In reality, most diseases stem from not one but a long chain of factors,
which intensify and multiply over a period of months or even years. Our
-More-behavior, feelings, stress levels, relationships, conflicts and beliefs
contribute to our susceptibility to disease.... Our power to prevent and heal
illness is far greater than most of us realize."
Stimulated by this notion, thousands of physicians, psychologists, and
hypnotherapists, trained in orthodox institutions and sporting reputable
degrees, have reached across the boundaries of their disciplines to embrace an
abundance of new theories, treatments, and therapies such as Biofeedback,
Hypnosis, visualization and attitudinal changes--all based on the assumption
that the mind influences the body...
But in science as in politics a progressiveness is often met with a
conservative backlash. Sometimes the reaction is understandable;
established professionals have vested interests to uphold. So conservative
zealousness often keeps viable theories and honest practitioners from reaching
the public.
The ongoing debate between holistic thinkers and mechanistic thinkers exploded
into a full-fleged controversy... It was sparked by an article in the June 1985
issue of the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine, which reported a
study by University of Pennsylvania researchers. The study--conducted by a
team headed up by Dr Barrie Cassileth--sought to determine whether certain
-More-social and psychological factors affected the condition of 359 patients with
advanced cases of malignant cancer .
The seven indications of mental attitude, as measured by a composite
questionnaire, were:
<1> Social ties
<2> Marital history.
<3> Job satisfaction.
<4> Subjective view of adult health prior to illness.
<5> Degree of hopelessness and helplessness.
<6> Perception of the adjustment to cope with the cancer diagnosis.
<7> Use of psychotropic drugs.
Cassileth and her colleagues were moderate in assessing their results,
acknowledging that, "psychosocial factors may, in some circumstances and with
some persons, be among the many variables that affect the cause or development
of cancer." Calling for "further investigation and caution in interpreting
studies that claim a positive association between psychosocial factors and
survival in malignant disease."
-More-
Many critics of the study took exception to Cassileth's methodology. Said
Doctor Dennis Jaffe, "I would not accept an experimental design like that from
a graduate student for a doctorate." Others labeled the design "superficial
and weak" and objected to the questionnaire employed. Because it was compiled
from unrelated studies and had not undergone validation procedures, to see if
it measured what the researchers intended to measure, several scientists
questioned its reliability... Others pointed out that the study did not
consider certain variables-optimism about one's condition, for example, and
levels of anger or resentment--that have been linked to lack of longevity in
previous studies...
The study itself probably would not have created a major controversy except for
the interpretive comments offered by one of the JOURNALS editors, Marcia
Angell... Angell a deputy editor of the JOURNAL, wrote an editorial in the same
issue that suggested that, "we have been too ready to accept the venerable
belief that mental state is an important factor in the cause and cure of
disease."
It is time, she concluded, to acknowledge that such a contention is "largely
folklore." Angell's comments drew the most heated response.
-More-Dr Shelly Taylor, a UCLA social psychologist, called the editorial "totally our
of proportion to the weight of the evidence." Jaffe condemned it as a "lapse
in the scientific attitude."
In short, Angell's objectivity and familiarity with the body of research, were
called into question.
Dr Jean Achterberg, an associate professor at the University of Texas Health
Science Center in Dallas, pointed out, "that dozens of prior experiments have
given researchers ample reason to believe that mental states do, in fact,
influence the body and can affect the course of disease." For example, in a
study of breast cancer patients, Dr. Shelly Taylor found that "the more control
the patient felt she had over her own condition, the better her chances of
survival." A psychological variable.. . perceived control... was a very
reliable predictor of the patient's longevity.
Physicians and psychologists who take into account feelings and beliefs, and
who work with their patients to achieve a positive attitude conducive to
healing, feel they are providing an added, and potent, weapon in the fight
against disease. Some-most notably Dr. Carl and Stephanie Simonton, a
specialist in Onocology, and early pioneers in this field--have gone a step
further incorporating into their regimens hypnosis, with specific visualization
-More-techniques directly influencing the body's defenses... While research is still
in development, practitioners have been encouraged enough to investigate
further. Much work is being done to determine exactly which procedures work
best under which conditions and for which patients. Experimental research to
separate the various psychological factors and the variety of techniques to see
which, are having the most desirable effects.
I agree with, Los Angeles psychologist David Bresler, an expert in dealing with
pain, using hypnosis and visualizations with hundreds of patients, and with Dr
Carl Simonton who both say, "one must gear the imagery to the patient."
One question Angell raised has been well received, even by those who otherwise
disagree with her position. Angell cautioned that by telling patients their
attitudes can facilitate a cure, that doctors are setting them up for
self-blame and feelings of failure if they do not get better...
At this point, however, researchers fervently believe that positive attitudinal
factors work in the patient's favor. Dr Achterberg, author of Imagery and
Healing, says that her research and review of the accumulated data indicate
that a patient's belief in their ability to overcome a diagnosed disease,
(whether it is cancer or chronic head pain) is the single most important
variable in determining the outcome. A positive attitude, she reports, seems
-More-to be a better predictor of the ultimate course of disease than biochemical
analyses... My findings bear her out, in addition with the correct procedures
in Hypnosis, you can eliminate any problems caused by self-blame, which Dr Carl
Simonton believes is one of the major causes of disease...
As Negative attitudes are changing, science seems to confirm what physicians
have observed for a long time: a patient who believes he or she can get well
and who has a strong desire to live is likely to survive and resists recurrence
of a disease fairly easily when using hypnosis, compared to the patient who
succumbs to hopelessness and despair.
Researchers point out that thoughts and emotions are, after all, biochemical
events... So it makes sense that they would have biochemical consequences--and
that different thoughts and different emotions would have quite different
consequences, affecting the brain in ways that would possibly influence organs
elsewhere in the body... Thirty years of research on such techniques as
Hypnosis or Meditation and Biofeedback with stress have shown that mental
processes profoundly affect physiological measures such as blood pressure and
heart rates.
These studies have verified common sense and observation. Take your pulse
sometime when you are watching a tense moment in a drama or sporting event; it
-More-will probably be higher than normal. Take it again when the drama is over or
your team has a comfortable lead and you may find a dramatic reduction. It is
only a short leap from such obvious MIND/BODY LINKS to the HYPOTHESIS that
negative attitudes and emotions can influence our health or that by changing
them we influence healing.
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