The Mind Effect
By Joan Pingitore

In these difficult economic times, many of us are finding ourselves under a great deal of stress. We’re worried about our finances and how their changes will be affecting the lifestyle that we’re used to. The unanswered questions and the uncertainty play havoc with our minds. We can even allow ourselves to panic, and to be angry or depressed.

Eventually, most times the negative things do work out in a positive way, especially if we keep our thoughts on this track. However, we usually think of all the bad things that are happening to us, instead of looking for the good things. We need to know though, that the thoughts in our minds can be very detrimental to our health if they are negative, but they can also be very healing if they are positive. We have to learn to channel ourselves away from those destructive thoughts, because they are only hindering us from being productive and accomplishing what we need to do- which is usually to put a plan into action to change or accept whatever is wrong.

I’d like to share with you some interesting studies on how the power of the mind has such strong control over our body, to help convince you that no matter how bad things are, you can make them worse (or better) by how you think and feel –

Placebo effect : Placebo is the Latin word for “I please”. Meaning that by convincing or pleasing the mind, one can alter the state of illness or pain. There has been a huge amount of research in this area proving that many times the placebo effect can be just as powerful or even more so, than drugs or surgery. Some examples from the book Health and Wellness ~ by Gordon Edlin

In a study at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in England, an Oncologist told 411 patients that their hair would fall out as a result of chemotherapy. 30% of these patients unknowingly received placebos instead of chemo and suffered the same hair loss just like the others who had the real chemo.
In one landmark study in 1978, dental patients experiencing the after-effects of tooth extraction were given a sugar pill and told it was a powerful painkiller. They reported significant pain relief.
In this same experiment, it was taken one step further- researchers took a group of patients on the sugar pill and gave them a chemical known to block the action of the brain’s own natural painkillers. This group only experienced only slightly less pain reduction than the other group, even though they had only taken the placebo pill initially.

Before ibuprofen was released in 1984, studies were done utilizing placebos. Of the groups given a placebo (and told it was for pain), over 40% had total headache relief.

Another remarkable placebo effect is shown by the ability of 20% of balding men in a study to stimulate their own hair growth, simply by believing that they were using Rogaine, the hair growth drug, when they were using nothing but a clear inactive liquid.

The natural conclusion from these studies and others is that expectation or belief affects the biology of our bodies. The emotional responses of individuals to the world around them have a strong potential effect on the physical body.

Stress : According to doctor’s statistics from the book Comprehensive Stress Management - by Jerolde Greenberg , the source of most illness is stress – which is an attachment to unhealthy habitual thoughts and emotional patterns of behavior, which manifests in disruption of mind-body harmony. Stress related illnesses such as hypertension, asthma, arthritis, ulcers, and skin problems are often referred to as psychosomatic disorders. This term does not mean phantom problems, but represents real physical conditions. Many of the causes of these disorders are the result of a physical response to emotionally charged and stressful life situations and events. This physical response is mediated by the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, which line the thought and feeling centers of the brain with the rest of the body. This response causes muscle tension, hormonal changes, increase in heart rate, cell changes, nerve fiber damage, and lowered immunity which can also cause infections, viruses, chronic diseases and possibly even cancer.

Personality : This book also states that personality can contribute immensely to our propensity for certain diseases. For example, Type A personality was disproportionately found among heart attack patients in studies. Ulcers have been found many times not to be caused by over-production of stomach acid, but by a sense of utter helplessness among ulcer patients, for varying reasons. Researchers believe this feeling preceded the ulcer rather than resulted from it. There is even a cancer-prone personality, which is described as holding resentment, inability to forgive, self-pity, inability to maintain close relationships, and having a poor self image. Many other diseases are thought to have a relation to our thoughts and emotions.

There is hope however. Because stress-related disorders depend on mental attitudes and processes, it is possible for people to exert control over the thoughts that many lead to illness. People can change how they interact with negative people and situations by changing their attitudes. This is more easily said than done, however, but by utilizing coping strategies, we can exert some control in our stress responses. Here are three general ways people can cope :

Try to change the situation that is causing the emotional distress.
Try to alter your interpretation of the importance of the situation, so it’s not as distressing.
Try to alter the negative feeling state without trying to change the situation or how you think about it.

In very difficult situations it is best to get help from a professional to learn how to deal with them and to learn how to put these strategies into practice.

There are also many stress-relieving behaviors to engage in like meditation, exercise, taking a walk, having fun with friends, creating a work of art, meditation, yoga or any other pleasurable activities that remove you and your mind from the stressful situation for a while. Another common stress-reliever is engaging in spirituality. A large study published in Newsweek Magazine, demonstrated that having faith can have healing powers specific for that person practicing them. By using brain scans, researchers have discovered that this can change brain activity and improve immune function responses. Also included in faith is the impact of forgiveness which gives one greater psychological well-being and over-all health.

In conclusion, if we realize that there is a strong connection between the mind and the ability of the body to create it’s own illness or the ability to heal itself, we might work harder at making ourselves think and feel differently. We need to learn to love ourselves, and accept situations that we cannot change. Because while not all illness has yet been proven to be attributed to the mind’s effect, the power of our own thoughts… no matter how subtle… can have positive or negative outcomes in our own health.

We must deal with the world as we find it, not as we would like it to be.- Lee Balkum