Before reading on, it is important to mention,
that if you have been diagnosed with cancer or any illness, hypnotherapy is not a
treatment in itself, and it should only be used under medical referral or
supervision. In practice it is usually welcomed and encouraged
by your Consultant or GP as an extremely useful adjunct to conventional treatment.
From the moment someone discovers a lump, or a change in their body, an altered state of consciousness
can occur. It isn't always
the case, but from that moment on, a powerful negative self-hypnosis
may result.
In
the growing field of Psychoneuroimmunology, it is suggested that hypnosis and
self-hypnosis can not only benefit symptoms associated with cancer therapy, but
also the outcome as well. (Spiegel,1979. The Lancet.) There are many studies
currently underway to replicate Spiegel's research results. Because
of this work and similar findings, cancer patients frequently contact
hypnotherapists
for assistance, both to experience and to learn these techniques.
The premise being that it is almost universally
accepted that the mind can have an effect on neuro-endocrine function. (Anderson
1996; Fife1996)
There are 3 main areas where Hypnotherapy can
help;
Conventional;
By this we mean pre and
post operative rehearsal. Anxiety levels are increasingly
elevated, at least, 2-4 days pre-operatively and remain elevated for at least 2 weeks
post-operatively. (Pennebaker,1977).
As many as 80% of all patients within the
Oncology departments experience heightened anxiety or stress. Reasons may include; fear of the outcome, being confined within
the MRI scanner, feeling abandoned, unfamiliar sounds, waiting and lack of information. For some, anxiety turns to panic, making treatment impossible.
Hypnotherapy and deep trance relaxation allows
the patients perception of a situation to change. This is very empowering and
can often have dramatic results.
Hypnotherapy helps patients with heightened
suggestibility to reframe innocuous statements by health workers. For example,
statements such as 'You'll never be the same after this' may be construed in a
positive or negative light. Either way, the patients response will exert a
powerful influence over their disease progression or remission.
Effecting non-pharmacological analgesia is a much sought
after skill and is relatively easy to experience and learn.
Hypnotherapy can also increase feelings of
comfort and well-being with regard to repetitive invasive procedures.
Achieving a deep trance relaxation state reduces
stress, heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension. Further, by
achieving a lowered metabolic rate the production of 'free radicals' are
reduced. This is considered important, as 'free radicals' are highly
destructive molecules that are increasingly implicated in the development of
cancer.
Complementary
Imagine
two people roughly the same age, sex, etc. both diagnosed with the same cancer
at the same time and at the same stage. One develops a powerful negative
self-fulfilling attitude - in effect gives up, whilst the other harnesses all
their resources and is determined – perhaps for example, motivated to see their first
grandchild.
Would
you believe that their disease progression to be identical? If your answer is
'No', then it might be interesting to reflect why there isn’t a
corresponding degree
of effort and time devoted to the mental aspect of the disease as well. After all, is it such a dangerous notion
to suggest that cancer isn't merely a
physical disease, but if allowed to infect thoughts and beliefs, might become even
more pernicious?
This isn’t the same, as some detractors would have you
believe, that the above view is just a wild claim of ‘thinking it all away’. It is
merely an acknowledgement that the mental aspect, if targeted at the outset,
can exert a very significant influence, thereby helping improve the efficacy of the
primary conventional treatment.
Hypnotherapy
is a powerful tool and can help reframe, re-associate, motivate, achieve a
balance, reduce fear, reduce confusion, and marshal your own existing resources. I
think it's fair to say that conventional treatments targets none of these.
Although
there is little, at the moment, in the way of empirical evidence to support
these views, I believe that it says more about the lack of research than it does about the
therapy. After all, 50 years ago, the ideas behind Psychoneuroimmunology were considered
radical.
There is increasing
evidence that achieving deep relaxation boosts your 'immune system'
by allowing your system to produce more of the cells that can 'attack' cancer cells. Further, and some say controversially, visualization and imagery techniques are usually
incorporated to actively stimulate the body's physiology. For
example, imagining ones own healing resources working together with the
'chemotherapy allies' can exert a powerful influence on a treatments
efficacy.
In a recent study undertaken by Professor
Leslie Walker, cancer patients who received psychological support that
included progressive relaxation techniques and guided imagery, showed
an enhanced quality of life, better moods, helped existing coping strategies
and crucially had an effect on the immune system by facilitating the
multiplication of T-cells and B-cells.
Another benefit is that the patient has a structure to follow and
actively participates in the treatment. This is very empowering.
Belief system;
By this I don't
necessarily mean religiosity or Spirituality. An important, if
not crucial key to any disease progression or remission is your belief
system. There are many aspects to a belief system. Once a hope or thought
becomes a belief, it becomes 'true' for you and exerts a powerful influence over the course of any
disease. - either negatively or positively.
All our beliefs are part of a system - they are
not in isolation. so for example, if I believe that the fruit I eat will do me
good because it's healthy, this belief is bound up with the belief that the
person who I buy my fruit from only sells organic produce, and so
on. Of course any belief can be kept if one is prepared to adjust the
rest of the system - some say Politicians are a good example of this.
Beliefs can form who we are. in other words one
might describe themselves as 'ill' or 'diseased' or link ourselves to a
particular dogma or faith. We can bound ourselves so tightly that no new idea
or suggestion has the temerity to seek admittance. Once our beliefs are
'operational' then even our choice of Newspaper becomes fixed and we enter the
blurred world of whether the Newspaper reflects our beliefs or whether perhaps
the Newspaper is influencing them.
Of course we weren't born with our beliefs. We
learnt them from experience, significant others, Peers, Media, etc. So it
might be safe to presume that some of them are plain 'wrong'.
Beliefs are sometimes thought of as a survival
tool, but personally I feel they can be just as likely to cause a risk to
survival. After all, the reward for believing, is seeing what you believe -
whether it be right or wrong!
I think it was Bertrand Russell, when asked
whether he was prepared to die for his beliefs, said, - 'Oh my God, no,
I might be wrong'. (Badly quoted).
Power of your Mind.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine cutting a lemon into
quarters. Now, imagine sucking on one quarter, feel the juice on your tongue, you might already be experiencing
an increase in your saliva production.
For the sake of space and your time, I will assume that one accepts the 'condition' of stigmata (wounds
similar to those of Christ
appearing on the body). Most scientific explanations usually come down on the
side of a heightened form of self-hypnosis or auto-suggestion, rather than caused by a confidence trick, a new biological condition, or a
true numinous experience.
Approximately 300 people have experienced this 'condition', from Francis of
Assisi to
Padre Pio in the 1960's. So it is rare.
My point is that, between increasing your saliva
production -
lets call it point A, which took you no practice or prior skills, all the way to experiencing stigmata,
call that point B, a line may be drawn.
We are all somewhere on that line. With assistance,
support and guidance, we could all move further forward - sometimes
dramatically. It
is important to note here that this is not offering 'false hope' or a
panacea.
The premise is, I believe, a reasonable one, namely that you
can make a difference, and exert an increased influence by using your mind.
By how much and by how far is not and never can be guaranteed.
Spirituality.
As
our world becomes ever more complex, it is even more crucial to our
psychological well-being to achieve a balance between our inner awareness,
that allows valuable insights to reach our conscious minds, and our outer
awareness.
Many
believe that with practice, our sense of spirituality is heightened leading to
deeper understanding and to feelings of contentment.
The
language used in describing spirituality can often sound peculiar – However,
what is in no doubt are the feelings one can access.
"In all things, it is
better to hope than to despair"
Below are some principles and ideas developed by William James.
I feel these ideas, although pertaining to a belief in God, can be related to hypnosis, the mind,
cancer and 'false hope'.
....James
notes that the best investigator for scientific endeavors is one that is
keenly interested in truth, but has a great deal of concern over being duped.
Science, unfortunately, has made this concern over dupery into an
technique--the method of verification. Science, James says, has fallen in love
with the method. One can even say that science has ceased to seek for truth
itself. It is only the truth that is technically verifiable which interests
science. "The truth of truths might come in merely affirmative
form," writes James, "and she [science] would decline to touch
it."
James,
William The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy.
New York: Dover Publications, 1956.
...Biologically
considered, our minds are as ready to grind out falsehood as veracity, and he
who says, "Better go without belief forever than believe a lie!"
merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe. He may be
critical of many of his desires and fears, but this fear he slavishly obeys.
He cannot imagine any one questioning its binding force. For my own part, I
have also a horror of being duped; but I can believe that worse things than
being duped may happen to a man in this world....
Extract
taken from The Will to Believe - William James
James
is willing to go out on a limb, to risk being wrong, when this is the only way
to place oneself in a position to know the truth.
James
assumes that if God exists then the knowledge that God exists is an immensely
valuable sort of knowledge in itself, whereas the knowledge that God does not
exist, if God does not exist, is worth much less.
The
Cliffordian suspends judgment because he would rather miss out on the truth
than risk being wrong. James himself regards the value of being right about
God’s existence as worth any risks that belief might bring with it. And so
he believes: not on the strength of evidence, but rather simply on the
strength of a wish to believe that God exists if God does in fact exist.
