Hi all:
I was looking through some old magazines and an artical caught my eye: "The healing truth", by Curtis Foreman (Alive, vol no 258, April 2004, pg 106-108). In it some information about "the complex relationship between physical and emotional health" was compared. Here are some bits of the article:
"Ten years ago, my grandmother visited her doctor, complaining of stomach pains. After a few tests, the results came in: cancer.
She was frightened and upset, but immediately announced that she would have nothing to do with radiation or chemicals.
.........Much has been said about the value of positive thinking in dealing with cancer, but my grandmother's approach was anything but positive...............
...........Recovering from her surgery some months later, my grandmother refused painkillers. "Those doctors just want to get everyone hooked." she confinded in me, glaring at the nurses.
..........The "fighting spirit" she demonstrated may be what many researchers have claimed significantly increases a person's ability to recover from cancer.
...........Cancer patients who keep up a false front in the name of 'positive attitude' are doing themselves a disservice.
..................negative emotions did not translate to a reduced likelihood of recovery from cancer. Factors that did contribute included suppressing one's true self as unacceptable; feeling obliged to conform to social conventions; and sacrificing one's own desires for the sake of other people. The supporting evidence was real and measurable---in one study she conducted, Temoshok found that melanoma patients who rated highter on a scale of emotional expression had less aggressive tumours and stronger T-cell immunity.
Temoshok's work revealed that an artificially positive outlook can actually be harmful.
.................For people diagnosed with cancer, one of the most difficult aspects of dealing with the illness can be the pressure to remain positive. People who are naturally positive may thrive under this pressure, but for those with a different coping style, the exhortations to "think positively" may go against the grain.
More and more, we are learning that it is okay to react in different ways. Some people will fight cancer with love, some with anger. The important thing is to fight it.
.................Sadness, fear, and anger are natural responses to adversity. It takes courage and honesty to express all our feelings, positive and negative, and it is the courageous and honest among us who stand the greatest chance of overcoming any obstacle placed before them.
And what of my grandmother, who fought her cancer with every stubborn, ill-tempered bone in her body? Ten years later, she's still tending her own roses, thank you very much."
This really struck me. I think I do cope, usually, with adversity by maintaining as positive an outlook as I can and now....I wonder.....have I done myself harm? A disservice? Maybe not, since it seems to be my personal way of getting by but I learned real quick that I might not be helping others by suggesting they do the same thing.
Better be careful of that eh?
And who ever heard of fighting tooth and nail with every stubborn, ill-tempered bone having anything to do with surviving cancer???
But it works sometimes, it seems!!!
Plus.......when I take this info and apply it to any basic situation where people have strong, reactive feelings to events/situations/circumstance (especially trauma and abuse)????? It's that fighting spirit we all need (positive or negative, as suits us best, I guess).
Maybe I've misunderstood some people?
I think I might not have realized that their way of surviving (which could seem a little nasty to me) might be the exact thing that was needed in order for that person to make it through whatever they were withstanding.
And the biggie..........it sort of confimed what I've believed for so long......that getting the feelings out is the major factor in getting well (and that not doing that.....denying feelings.....holding them in.......pretending everything is ok.....being positive when it's not what one usually does........can set people back....maybe even waste much needed energy???
)......worse........allow the pain/cancer ......to keep growing!!!
(containing the real emotions = stalling progress of health???).
Finally, I have felt like I have suffered through cancer of my emotions. Probably others will relate to that statement. And now, I'm trying to nourish what's left and get to the most healthy state possible, which greatly includes......using my positive thinking/attitude/outlook to help myself, which works for me.
Maybe, others are trying to do the same thing but they're using a totally opposite (or what seems like it to me) method?
I've still lot's to learn, I think.
Sela
