Using the Mind to Fight Diseases

A) Psychology has a new application in the field of medicine. Many doctors, together with their patients, are looking for alternative methods of treatment of physical problems. In large hospitals and research centers, modern methods of therapy seem to focus on the physical disease without considering the patients’ mental state. Patients may feel that they are being treated impersonally, like broken machines. Some doctors have recognized this as a problem. They are now using psychological therapy with patients to use their own minds to fight their diseases. Because the patient is working with the medicine and the doctors are against the disease, his or her attitude changes. The patient does not wait for the medicine and treatment to cure him or her, but instead the patient joins in the fight.

B) The doctor knows that a disease affects a patient’s body physically. The body of the patient (in this case, a man) changes because of the disease. He is not only physically affected, but as the physician knows, he also has an emotional response to the disease. Because his mind is affected, his attitude and behavior change. The medical treatment might cure the patient’s physical problems, but the patient’s mind must fight the emotional ones. For example, the studies of one doctor, Carl Simonton, M. D. have shown that a typical cancer patient (in this case, a woman) has predictable attitudes. She typically feels depressed, upset, and angry. Her self-image is poor, and she feels self-pity. As a result, her behavior changes. Because of her constant depression, she acts unfriendly toward her family, friends, doctors, and nurses. Such attitudes and behaviors prevent the patient from getting well. Therefore, a doctor’s treatment must help the patient change her attitudes. Simonton’s method emphasizes treatment of the whole patient by treating both the body and the mind.

C) The attitude of a cancer patient who is receiving radiation therapy, an X-ray treatment, can become more positive. The physician who is following Simonton’s psychological treatment plan suggests that the patient imagine that he or she can see the tumor(肿瘤)in the body. In the mental picture, the patient “sees” a powerful beam of radiation like a million bullets of energy. The patient imagines the beam hitting the tumor cells and causing them to shrink. For another cancer patient, Dr. Simonton might make another suggestion. This patient, with a different kind of cancer, needs to take capsules and pills several times a day. The doctor asks the patient to imagine the medicine going from the stomach into the bloodstream and to the cancer cells. The patient imagines that the medicine is like an army fighting the diseased cells and sees the cancer cells gradually dying. His or her blood carries away the dead cells. Both the medical therapy and the patient’s positive attitude fight the disease.

D) Doctors are not certain why this mental therapy works. However, this use of psychology does help some patients because their attitudes about themselves change. They become more confident because they use the power within their own minds to help stop the disease.

E) Another application of using the mind to help cure disease is the use of suggestion therapy. Before making the suggestion, the doctor helps the patient to concentrate deeply. The patient (in this case, a man) thinks only about one thing. He becomes so unaware of other things around him that he seems to be asleep. He is said to be in a trance(催眠状态). Then the physician makes “a suggestion” to the patient about the medical problem. The patient’s mind responds to the suggestion even after the patient is no longer in the trance. In this way, the patient uses his mind to help his body respond to treatment.

F) Doctors have learned that this use of psychology is helpful for both adults and children. For example, physicians have used suggestion to help adults deal with the strong pain of some disease. Furthermore, sometimes the adult patient (in this case, a woman) worries about her illness so much that the anxiety keeps her from getting well. The right suggestions may help the patient to stop being anxious. Such treatment may help the patient with a chronic(慢性的)diseases. Asthma(哮喘)is an example of a chronic disorder. Asthma is a disease that causes the patient to have difficulty in breathing. The patient starts to cough and sometimes has to fight to get the air that he or she needs. Psychology can help relieve the symptoms of this disorder. After suggestion therapy, the asthma patient breathes more easily.

G) Physicians have learned that the psychological method is very useful in treating children. Children respond quickly to the treatment because they are fascinated by it. For example, Dr. Basil R. Collison has worked with 121 asthmatic children in Sydney, Australia, and had good results. Twenty-five of the children had excellent results. They were able to breathe more easily, and they did not need medication. Another forty-three were also helped. The symptoms of the asthma occurred less frequently, and when they did, they were not as strong. Most of the children also felt better about themselves. Doctors have also used suggestion therapy to change habits like nail-biting, thumb-sucking, and sleep- related problems.

H) Many professional medical groups have accepted the medical use of psychology because they recognize its value. Nobody knows how suggestion therapy works; however, doctors have learned that psychology has important applications in medicine.

Psychology can help relieve the symptoms of Asthma who have difficulty in breathing.

The use of psychological therapy is helpful to some patients in that the patients’ attitudes towards themselves have changed.

Though nobody knows how suggestion therapy works, doctors have realized it value in medicine.

Dr. Simonton asked a patient with a cancer to imagine the medicine he takes everyday going from the stomach into the bloodstream and fighting the diseased cells.

Some doctors have found that focusing on the physical disease without considering the patients’ mental state is a problem.

In suggestion therapy, the patient can use his mind to help his body respond to treatment.

Physicians have found that children make a quick response to suggestion therapy because they are fascinated by it.

Some doctors have found that focusing on the physical disease without considering the patients’ mental state is a problem.

In suggestion therapy, the patient can use his mind to help his body respond to treatment.

Physicians have found that children make a quick response to suggestion therapy because they are fascinated by it.