Most with chronic illness (and even those going through an acute issue) have all had that well-meaning person offer their suggestion that goes a bit like this: Have you tried talking with your body? It’s only trying to communicate with you. If you learned to talk to your body in a proper way you could get heal from this! It’s usually followed with a really incredible story about something they, or someone they knew, overcame by this process.
What Exactly Are They Talking About?
There is a theory of healing, found a lot in the New Age Spiritual communities especially, that illness is simply a manifestation of a more emotional based issue. For example, a connective tissue disorder relates to a lack of the ability to be flexible in one’s life or cataracts is an inability to see the path one is supposed to be following in life. They also tend to believe that if one fixes the emotional hurdle, that physical healing will follow without the involvement of medical professionals. You just need to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror to see what the illness your body has is trying to communicate with you.
There are some groups in this movement that also advocate literally starting a dialog with your body. If something is painful, focusing on that area and telling it that you hear its message that something is wrong and you’re doing your best or give it suggestions. They feel that attempting to communicate with your body connects your conscious to your subconscious and encourages your body to perform the amazing healing skills its known to be capable of.
Is There Any Truth To This?
Well, kind of and in parts. There have recently been studies about how mental states have an affect on one’s physical well being. There was even an article published in The Scientific American about it called The Science of Healing Thoughts, a link to Depression and Chronic Pain on Medicine.net, and even one from the Mayo Clinic on Pain and Depression. It has also been said in many different arenas that those with a positive attitude heal faster and more completely than those that are pessimistic. It is also known that when depressive states are at their worst, symptoms of chronic illness also seem to peak. So there does seem to be a pretty sturdy correlation between the two.
Even the idea of starting a dialog with your problem areas, though it can seem silly, has whispers of truth. Our mind is wonderfully plastic and it’s been shown that if given the right motivation or direction, we can shift our mood, thinking, and attitude. There’s even been studies about the Effect of Motivational Self Talk done. Our brains work on patterns, and it doesn’t always have to be from external influence. Repeating to ourselves things like “I can do this” or “This will get better and I’ll be okay” actually can have a positive influence on the hormone production in our brain. Basically…if you say it often enough…your own head starts to believe it.
Knowing this, it seems there is wisdom in taking that hard look at one’s self to find an emotional link to one’s physical problems. After all, if the goal is to heal, should we not examine every avenue available to us? I won’t hesitate to say that if you feel it could be of benefit, absolutely go to a psychologist and take advantage of their skills. Having an acute illness can be harrowing let alone having to deal with a chronic illness. We deal with a lot of physical and emotional hurdles and having help isn’t a bad thing as we navigate through them. I’ll include that when my mood and attitude are better, so is my ability to cope in healthy ways. But does this mean we can talk ourselves out of being sick?
When Positive Thinking Becomes Dangerous
The alarming part to this is when it gets to the aspect that people are being told they can think their illness away without the involvement of medical professionals. This is foolish at best and potentially deadly advice at worst. Those using this line of thinking are employing the logical fallacy correlation equals causation by taking general evidence and forming a solid conclusion to base their approach off of. I have personally known people that have allowed their illness to progress past the point of being able to heal well or at all because of advice such as this, so forgive me if hearing things like this make be just a tad bit aggressive. Now, I know, those that adhere to this philosophy will jump to point out that my aggressive reactions to such things just point to why my anger is holding me back from healing. I will happily counter than “negative” emotions aren’t bad and have their place…such as when I’m told to completely ignore my doctor’s advice that has kept me alive and functioning and rely on sunshine and rainbows instead.
As I noted in a related article about how exercise can be difficult, statements such as this victim blame. If you’re sick, it’s obviously your fault is what that statement actually translates to. If you were only fixing your own issues, you wouldn’t be sick. If you would only be positive, you wouldn’t be suffering. Only people that deserve it get as sick as you. Sorry folks, but no amount of finding the silver lining to what I’m going through is going to reprogram my DNA to magically produce proper collagen. No amount of loving being female will remove simple hyperplasia from my uterus.
Forcing myself to appear happier isn’t going to make me better. Telling myself I’m healthy or without issue isn’t going to make it true no matter how much effort I put into it. Even having blind faith that I will be magically cured will not make it so. The only thing it will positively do, is make those suggesting such nonsense more comfortable rather than see evidence of my pain.
There’s Nothing Wrong With Hope
Just like nothing is wrong with being optimistic. These are WONDERFUL things and I encourage everyone to live with hope in their life. But your optimism shouldn’t blind you from utilizing the best options available to you because the alternative sounds better. If we’re honest, of course the idea that just having faith can cure what’s wrong instead of going through painful tests, procedures, and taking medication. Who wouldn’t want that? Seriously? I’d take that option in a heartbeat if I could. Hell, I’m ashamed to say it, but I tried that for a while! I can also tell you that after the most recent injury and 9 months in a walking boot…the realization that I’m not going to improve without the help of specialists was crushing.
This is a side to optimism that is rarely considered by this school of thinking. What are the consequences when the positive thinking fails and the optimism has to face the cold reality of a person’s illness? I like to employ what I’ve learned to call optimal thinking vs optimism. If you’re interested there’s a book called “Optimal Thinking” by Dr. Rosalene Glickman that goes into more detail, but the long and the short of it is taking your issue and making a plan of action instead of just hoping for the best. If you plan for your future knowing your possible outcomes, you not only create a sense of satisfaction for creating a plan of action…but you can find yourself with less anxiety over the looming issue because of having said plan in place.
It doesn’t take your problems away, but it gives you potential paths to resolving. For a closing example, I’ve got a Post Surgical Infection in one of my ankles that has been resistant to 3 rounds of oral antibiotics. I’m currently on a regiment of IV therapy antibiotics 3 times a day for a month. If this doesn’t work, the implant gets removed, more antibiotics, and then the implant back in. I’ve made a course of action for the current worst case scenario with my team of doctors. I don’t have to be excited about that potential, and I am hoping with all I’ve got that this treatment works and I can just complete this therapy and be done. I can also relax in some ways BECAUSE there is a plan of action. I don’t have to worry about “Oh, what am I going to do?!” because I already know. When I feel anxiety over the slow healing, I can find relief in knowing I’ve got some amazing doctors watching over every aspect instead of wondering what I’m doing wrong and letting the bacteria work their way, unchecked, further into my system as I rely on blind hope.
I’m creating my own hope out of positive action and using that hope to find motivation for every hurdle that comes my way. Being positive isn’t about pretending nothing is wrong, it’s being proactive about what IS going on to give yourself the best chance on all fronts.
