Dr. Judith Guedalia — 2012

After more than 30 years in the psychology "business," I have learned a lot about the mind-body interaction in medicine, specifically the role of resilience and self-help. I've learned this not only from my university training and work experience with trauma patients, but primarily from my own experience as a patient, having had four births by Caesarian section, thyroid cancer, and now endometrial/uterine cancer.

What is the science behind the Mind Body Connection?Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles reveals how stress makes people more susceptible to illness. The findings also suggest a potential drug target for preventing damage to the immune systems of persons who are under long-term stress, including caregivers to chronically ill family members, astronauts, soldiers, air traffic controllers and people who drive long daily commutes.

Rita Effros is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the UCLA medical school, concludes:

"When the body is under stress, it boosts production of cortisol to support a 'fight or flight' response. If the hormone remains elevated in the bloodstream for long periods of time, though, it wears down the immune system. We are testing therapeutic ways of enhancing telomerase levels to help the immune system ward off cortisol's effect. If we're successful, one day a pill may exist to strengthen the immune system's ability to weather chronic emotional stress."

Today there are many mind-body interventions that help patients and "pre-patients" reduce stress.

While the study just mentioned reflects today's cutting edge thinking, I have strongly, interestingly, relied on the work of the French psychiatrist Andre Coué, who worked in the early 1920s. (See The Birth of Autosuggestion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autosuggestion.)

The Coué Method

The Coué method centers on the routine repetition of a particular expression (i.e. "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better") according to a specified ritual, in a given physical state, and in the absence of any sort of allied mental imagery, at the beginning and at the end of each day. Unlike a commonly held belief that a strong conscious mind constitutes the best path to success, Coué maintained that curing some of our troubles requires a change in our subconscious/unconscious thinking, which can only be achieved by using our imagination. Although emphasizing that he was not primarily a healer but one who taught others to heal themselves, Coué claimed to have effected organic changes through autosuggestion."

Self-conflict

Coué believed a patient's problems were likely to increase if his willpower and imagination (or mental ideas) opposed each other, something Coué would refer to as "self-conflict." As the conflict intensifies, so does the problem: The more the patient tries to sleep, the more he becomes awake. The patient must thus abandon his willpower and instead put more focus on his imaginative power in order to fully succeed with his cure."

Here are a few examples of what I experienced and how I tried to understand the mechanisms of what was happening, and talk myself through in order to work on the mind-body relationship that was affecting how I felt and how I was healing from the assaults" on my body.

About 16 years ago, two weeks before Shabbat Hagadol, I had a thyroidectomy. My thyroid was surgically removed as a result of cancer, and so began the daily taking of thyroxin pills to replace my thyroid function. No big deal. Interestingly, I began taking them in the U.S. where my prescription was 150mg, one oval greenish/blue pill. When I got to Israel I discovered that they didn't make 150mg pills but rather 100mg and 50mg. So I was now taking two pills a day.

I began to notice I felt sad and somewhat depressed. I felt "sicker" than I had felt in the States. I tried to figure out why. It slowly came to me that the fact that I was taking two pills instead of one made me feel 'sicker' than when I took the one pill.

"Wait a minute," I told myself, just do simple math. One hundred plus 50 is equal to 150. So I am no more ill than I was. The reason they don't make 150 mg here in Israel, I ascertained, was purely an economic decision by the drug company.

As soon as I made this connection I felt okay, not sad, and the "sicker" feeling diminished.

Recently, with my present bout of cancer, there have been many such experiences and instances where I employed a "wait, watch and listen to my mind/body reactions" strategy. Once I thought about my feelings and from whence they may be coming, I tried to reframe the situation, and it indeed made a difference.

Most recently, I underwent a series of radiological interventional therapy. In the vernacular, the cancer cells were being zapped by pinpoint radiologic beams. Yes, I thought about Darth Vader and the whole Star Wars, and visualized Hashem giving these "guns" to his minions/shelichim, the doctors and technicians, to fight and kill my enemy within.

But something was still not right. I was feeling helpless and did not feel a part of the curative process, something that even with the chemotherapy I had undergone for over a year I had been able to experience. Being a part of the process, and not just a "piece of meat" that things were being done to, made me feel the difference between being in a "butcher shop" and being part of a team that was going to cure me -- or at the very least lengthen my life on earth. I definitely felt better when I was a part of a team doing something to fight the disease and help the professionals and myself.

I began to pay attention to the process, the technicians, the line of people waiting for their turn waiting to be laid on a cold hard surface, the area of cancer to be zapped laid bare, measured against an earlier 'staging visit' and then the 10 -15 minutes of treatment, then getting dressed and out so the next "victim" could come in and receive treatment.

I noticed that the technicians had a breakneck schedule: one patient after another every 10-15 minutes from 7 a.m. till after 3 p.m.

I mentioned to the technicians that I really appreciated their hard jobs, and the fact that they even found time to smile (not really). The next visit (my treatment was five days a week for five-and- a-half weeks) I brought a small gift to every one of the technicians as recognition of their hard job and wonderful demeanor (so I lied!). You will never believe what happened. They offered me an extra pillow under my head to make me feel more comfortable, but more importantly, they gave me a sheet to cover my 'bareness'.

I treated them like humans with basic needs for actualization, recognition and positive regard, and lo and behold I became a person to them, too, someone whose need for modestly and comfort was no different from their own.

So the mind-body relationship can work for us in many ways.

My best wishes to all for good health and strong connections between your minds and bodies for your own good health and that of those around you, which I might add will only enhance your own life.

The author is the Director of the Neuropsychology Unit; Chief Psychologist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center; Licensed Supervisor and Specialist in Medical, Rehabilitation, and Developmental Psychology; EMDR Certified Practitioner: Supervisor; Co-Chair Nefesh Israel. Dr. Guedalia can be reached through her website: www.drjudithguedalia.com