Mind Over Medicine

MIND OVER MEDICINE 1

Mind Over Medicine

by Carl Mahlmann

"It's supposed to be a professional secret, but I'll tell you anyway. We

doctors do nothing. We only help and encourage the doctor within."

-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Although we live in a scientific age which has given to mankind such medical

advancements as laser surgery, CAT scans and the artificial heart, we cannot depend

entirely on the power of technology or the knowledge of physicians to cure us of our

ailments. Elements other than those which can be provided to us by the medical

profession must be brought into play in returning a disrupted body back to its normally

harmonious condition. One must accept responsibility for one's own health, and become

an active participant in the recovery process, for it is the infinite power of the mind -- not

the prescriptions of external forces -- which is the most important factor in determining

one's state of well-being.

It is popular contention that illnesses may be alleviated through the consumption,

injection or application of medicines which have been specifically designed by medical

practitioners to combat those illnesses. This practice of medicine is commonly known as

Allopathy: "the treatment of disease by remedies that produce effects different from or

opposite to those introduced by the disease..."1 -- typically through the administration of

a counter-acting drug. However, any drug administered to the body in an effort to combat

disease may very well have an effect not only on the disease -- if that -- but also on

other, normally-functioning systems of the body. Norman Cousins puts it accurately in

his Anatomy of an Illness:

"No greater popular fallacy exists about medicine than that a drug is like an

arrow that can be shot at a particularized target. Its actual effect is more

like a shower of porcupine quills. Any drug -- or food, for that matter --


goes through a process in which the human system breaks it down for use

by the whole.

"There is almost no drug, therefore, that does not have some side-effects.

And the more vaunted the prescription... the greater the problem of

adverse side-effects."2

Not only may drugs adversely affect a patient, but they will invariably affect different

individuals in different ways -- and in some cases, may not be effective in alleviating the

illness at all. One of the reasons for this may be that prescribed drugs are not geared

toward the individual. As stated by Dr. D.P. Jaggi, Head of the Department of Clinical

Research at V. Patel Chest Institute, Delhi University:

"There was a time -- this still prevails, to an extent, in Ayurvedic*...

systems -- when the physician prepared and compounded medicines

himself for his patients. He took all the trouble and time to make the

required medicine. But during the last thirty years or so, huge international

pharmaceutical companies have come up. They manufacture and propagate

scores and scores of drugs each year. While the motive of the physician

who prepared the medicines for his patients was to cure the patient, the

real motive of many of the pharmaceutical companies is to make enormous

profits. A majority of the new drugs that come to the market get prescribed

by the physician and used by the patient on the basis of sophisticated

propaganda and superior salesmanship."4

So, with drugs being mass produced for the greater public, without specific regard for

the individual, and having effects other than those intended by the physician, the

physician's purpose -- to cure the patient is undermined.

Let us consider a moment the purpose of the physician. Is it not to cure the patient?

Although a patient's illness may be diagnosed, and a remedy ascertained, there seems

to be only minimal effort by the physician to determine the cause of the illness. This --

more than the disease itself -- is what needs to be diagnosed in order to prevent the


inevitable recurrence, thereby truly curing the patient of the disease. Unfortunately,

traditional medicine (Allopathy) places more importance on treating the disease than on

treating the patient as a whole.

"The emphasis on the search for organic disease is precisely what has been

most responsible for the decline in confidence in orthodox medicine. The

great majority of patients with 'rather vague symptoms' are now beginning

to be aware that they are psychosocial, rather than organic, in origin and

that it is increased susceptibility to germs or viruses, rather than the

virulence of those organisms, that makes us ill... The public is turning

toward alternative practitioners because they concentrate on building up

resistance to disease rather than on looking for organic culprits."5

Holistic health practitioners, who treat "the whole person -- mind and body -- as an

inseparable unit,"6 realize that human illness is more than just the bacterial invasion of

an organism. Emotional factors play a vital role in a person's susceptibility to disease.

"Negative emotions produce negative chemical changes in the body... adrenal exhaustion

could be caused by emotional tension, such as frustration or suppressed rage."7

Indeed, the impact of negative emotions on a person's health is far greater than most

people realize. In his book, Bodymind, Ken Dychtwald writes of the relationship between

negative emotional states and illness: "All illness, whether cancer or schizophrenia or a

cold, originates in the bodymind.** On his deathbed, Louis Pasteur*** acknowledged

that a medical adversary of his had been right in insisting that disease is caused less by

the germ than by the resistance of the individual invaded by the germ. The old saying,

'Name your poison,' applies to the semantics and symbols of disease. If we feel 'picked

on,' or someone gives us a 'pain in the neck,' we may make our metaphors literal -- with

acne or neck spasms. People have long spoken of a 'broken heart' as the result of a

disappointing relationship; now research shows a connection between loneliness and

heart disease. So the broken heart may become coronary disease; ambivalence, a

splitting headache; and the rigid personality, arthritis."8


So, it has been shown that negative emotions will determine a person's susceptibility to

illness. However, are negative emotions the only emotions which have an impact on a

person's health? While he was afflicted by a crippling collagen disease, from which doctors

told him he had "one chance in five hundred" for recovery, Norman Cousins asked himself

this question:

"...what about the positive emotions? Is it possible that love, hope, faith,

laughter, confidence and the will to live have therapeutic value? Obviously,

putting the positive emotions to work (is) nothing so simple as turning on

a garden hose. But even a reasonable degree of control over my emotions

might have a salutory effect. Just replacing anxiety with a fair degree of

confidence might be helpful. "A plan began to form in my mind for

systematic salutory emotions..."11

In Anatomy of an Illness, Mr. Cousins goes on to tell the story of how he beat the odds

against recovery by becoming "more than just a passive observer"'12 in the treatment

of his illness. By doing such things as relocating himself from the hospital -- which he felt

was "no place for a person who is seriously ill"13 -- to "a place somewhat more conducive

to a positive outlook on life;"14 by foregoing his prescriptions of pain- killing drugs, which

-- although alleviating some of his pain -- he discovered to be toxic, and were therefore

inhibiting positive chemical changes to take place in his body;15 by doing intense research

on his own disease, and hypothesizing that administrations of ascorbic acid might be

useful in combatting it (he had such faith in this remedy that he admits he may have

been the recipient of a self-administered placebo);16 and by developing his sense of

humor through the viewing of Candid Camera and Marx Brothers films, Mr. Cousins

exercised his positive emotions, thereby "enhancing his body chemistry" and setting into

motion "the body's natural mechanisms of resistance to disease."17

Thusly, Mr. Cousins was able to overcome his disease -- which doctors believed to be

irreversible -- through sheer force of will.

There is no greater proof of the mind's ability to cure the body's illnesses than that which

is illustrated by placebo therapy. Reporting on faith healing in America. Mr. Bernhardt J.


Hurwood has cited how -- at the Harvard Medical School in Boston of "1,082 people with

colds, angina, headaches, seasickness, anxiety and post-operative pain, more than a

third were relieved of their symptoms by a placebo!"18 And how do placebos work when

they obviously have no allopathic validity?

"...no one is 100-percent certain. Among others, neurochemist Leo Abood,

PhD. at the University of Rochester (New York) Medical School, suggests

that the answer might be endorphins. Produced by the endocrine system

and by nerve cells scattered throughout the brain, endorphins act on the

same brain receptors as opiates, producing a similar euphoria.

"Endorphins have been under scientific scrutiny for only six years, so there's

much to be learned about them. But according to Dr. Abood, it's distinctly

possible that external as well as internal factors can lead to the production

of endorphins. Could absolute belief in the powers of a healer be such a

factor? Certainly. What's more, with endorphins flowing, the patient might

feel healed, and a positive mindset -- as even the most skeptical physician

will agree -- makes a better environment for real healing."19

Dr. Bernard S. Siegel, a surgeon teaching at the Yale School of Medicine, agrees:

"When patients think positively about their treatment and take active roles

in curing a disease, the progress is impressive..."20

In light of all the above, it can be said that the body, with its built-in healing mechanisms-

-subject to activation by the state of one's mind has the capacity to be its own best

doctor. This being the case, what is the role of the physician in the curing of an illness?

The physician must first take into account the whole aspect of a patient's being: both his

psyche and soma. Practitioners of Allopathy must look beyond their "twentieth-century

beliefs, conceived largely in the eighteenth- century Age of Reason, (which) have

dichotomized body and mind, and virtually exiled spirit altogether."21 For, as illustrated

by the experience of Norman Cousins, "there is no real separation between mind and

body. Illness is always an interaction between both. It can begin in the mind and affect


the body, or it can begin in the body and affect the mind, both of which are served by

the same bloodstream. Attempts to treat most mental diseases as though they were

completely free of physical causes and attempts to treat most bodily diseases as though

the mind were in no way involved must be considered archaic in the light of new evidence

about the way the human body functions."22

Secondly, they must learn to "encourage the doctor within" all of us -- the innate

recuperative power of the mind -- rather than simply prescribing a drug which may do

more harm than good.

Fortunately, more people -- including doctors -- are becoming aware of the holistic health

movement, and are moving in that direction. The receipt by Norman Cousins of "hundreds

of letters from doctors" in response to an article he wrote about his experience shows

this to be true. The doctors' letters "reflected the view that no medication they could give

their patients is as potent as the state of mind that a patient brings to his or her own

illness."23

"It is the Perfect Power alone that heals; all external methods of stimulation

only cooperate with the life energy and are valueless without it."

-- Paramahansa Yogananda

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* A traditional Hindu system of medicine practiced in India since the first century A.D.

and using combinations of herbs, purgatives, rubbing oils, etc. in treating diseases.3

** In his book. Mr. Dychtwald explains his use of the term "bodymind:" " ...I use the

word body to refer to the purely 'physical' aspects of a human being. As long as a person

is alive, he is never just a body separated from mind. Yet for the purposes of descriptive

observation and theoretical discussion, I will use the word in this fashion. I use the word

bodymind where 1 wish to refer to both the 'physical' and 'psychological' aspects of and

individual"9


*** French chemist and microbiologist, whose accomplishments were among the most

varied and valuable in the history of science. Pasteur proved that microorganisms cause

fermentation and disease.10


NOTES

1. "Allopathy," Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, p.37.

2. Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, p.52.

3. "Ayurveda," Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, p.99.

4. Dr. O.P. Jaggi, All About Allopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani & Nature Cure,

pp. 38,39

5. Brian Inglis, "To the Editor," The New England Journal of Medicine, CCCX (May 3,

1984), 1196.

6. "Medicine: More than Mechanics," Technology Review, LXXXVI (April, 1983), 74.

7. Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, p.34.

8. Ken Dychtwald, Bodymind, p. xvi.

9. Ibid., p. xii.

10. "Pasteur, Louis," Encyclopaedia Brittanica, XVII p. 439.

11. Norman Cousins. Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, pp. 34. 35.

12. Ibid., p. 31.


13. Ibid., p. 29.

14. Ibid., p. 35.

15. Ibid.,. p. 36.

16. Ibid., p. 47.

17. Ibid., p. 15.

18. Bernhardt J. Hurwood. "Healing and Believing," Health, XVI (June. 1984).

19. Ibid.

20. "Medicine: More than Mechanics," Technology Review, LXXXVI (April, 1983), 74.

21. The Berkeley Holistic Health Center, The Holistic Health Lifebook, p. 7

22. Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, pp. 56. 57.

23. The Berkeley Holistic Health Center, The Holistic Health Lifebook, p. xv.


OUTLINE

THESIS: The most important factor in determining a person's recovery from an illness

is not medication, but is, rather, the person's state of mind.

I. Epigraph

A. Albert Schweitzer quotation.

II. We must depend on more than the provisions of the medical profession to cure us of

our ailments.

A. Offering of thesis.

III. Discussion of negative aspects of traditional medicine.

A. Define Allonathy.

B. Drugs used in Allopathy affect normally-functioning systems of the body.

1. Cite Norman Cousins.

C. Drugs used in Allopathy are not geared toward the individual.

2. Cite O.P. Jaggi.

D. Conclusion: The physician’s purpose to cure the patient is undermined

by drugs.

E. Traditional medicine places more importance on treating disease than

on finding cause of the illness.


IV. Emotional factors influence susceptibility to disease.

A. Negative emotions produce negative"chemical changes in the body.

1. Cite Ken Dychtwald

B. Positive emotions produce positive chemical changes in the body.

1. Cite experience of Norman Cousins.

V. The mind can cure the body's illnesses.

A. Offering of placebo case.

1. Cite Bernhardt J. Hurwood and Leo Abood's studies on endorphins.

2. Cite Bernard S. Siegel's experience of positive thinking. B. Conclusion:

The body is its own best doctor.

VI. Offer role of physician in treating illness. VI. Show that doctors are agreeing.

A. Restatement of thesis {cite Norman Cousins receipt of letters reflecting views

of doctors. VII. Closing remark.

VII. Yogananda Paramahansa quotation.


Student: Carl Mahlmann

School: Adelphi University

Class: Writing & Rhetoric

Instructor: Stuart Kaufman

Assignment for August 19, 1986:

Term Paper (Research)

RELATED LINKS

http://www.xubera.com

http://mayoclinic.com/health/biofeedback/SA00083

Mind Over Medicine

Documents

Transcript of Mind Over Medicine