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maccafan
130 Posts |
 Posted - 07/13/2011 : 11:29:31
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I've been meaning to write this for a long time but I kept putting it off. But I'm ready now and it's a go.
First I want to say that I'm so glad that Dr. Sarno had the kahoonas to write his first book and get it his ideas out to the public. It took a Lot of guts for him to stand up to all the conventional ideas and practices out there for the treatment of pain. It could not have been easy for him knowing that the vast majority of his fellow doctors were going to riducule and look down on him. But he carried on anyway. And he's still going the distance trying to get his information out there to more and more suffering humans. He's not a quitter and neither should we be.
I'll never forget being in such pain that I could barely make it to the bookstore but I was determined to learn about my back pain and what I could do for it. I picked out four books including a small one whose title sounded pretty "iffy". At home again I decided to start with the little book first. I flipped through "Healing Backpain, the Mind/Body Connection" and read some letters in the back of the book first of success stories. I was amazed by what people had written to him. Their symptoms were my symptoms, their stories were my story. So I started at the beginning and couldn't believe what I was reading. I'd never heard of anything like this before but it just made sense to me on some deep level. I got so angry reading that book that after the first few pages I got up and started trying to walk around the house normally and not bent over with pain. The pain hadn't magically stopped but I could tell that something was different and I was detemined to keep going and keep learning. It took a few weeks in all but "I" made the acute pain stop and I felt like Rocky Balboa (no cheese involved  ).
Anyway, sorry, got side tracked. There's just one thing about Dr. Sarno's info that really bothers me. He feels that the rage and other emotions in our unconscious mind can lead to CANCER, HEART DESEASE, MS and other potentially FATAL illnesses!!!
I can grasp that the unconscious mind is trying to keep us from feeling unbearable repressed emotions so that we won't crack up or kill ourselves or someone else, etc. (even) if it does this by causing extreme physical pain, discomfort and misery. But to go so far as to kill off its host, the body, is just damn dumb and doesn't say much for the human species. I really hope that this part of his theory is not so !
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Javizy
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2011 : 05:45:30
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I'm not a big subscriber to the unconscious mind trickery thing, but keep in mind that your body is constantly creating cancerous cells that are readily destroyed by your immune system. Since anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders can weaken your immune system, it's not that hard to imagine cancer and other serious illnesses becoming a possibility. I doubt the effects of muscle tension on your circulation and the relentless release of stress hormones do much good either.
The simple way of looking at it is that your body is perfectly capable of taking care of itself, but by worrying, obsessing, raging etc you create reactions within it that prevent it from regulating itself as it was designed. There are a number of studies that draw links between optimism and well-balanced personalities and good health, including a few involving cancer occurrence in the elderly. |
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2011 : 08:08:02
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Javizy,
I couldn't agree with you more. Both my parents died of cancer within a couple of years of each other, at relatively young ages, while in the middle of a nasty divorce. They were both under tremendous stress. I think it weakens your natural immune system. That's not to say that all cancers stem from how we handle stress (particularly childhood cancers), but I believe it to be a big contributing factor as we get older, and maybe tips the scales in the wrong direction when our bodies are challenged with an injury or illness. |
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golden_girl
United Kingdom
128 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2011 : 18:00:12
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Just throwing another IDEA into the mix...
If your subconscious does do what we tell it most, for those who have a family history of, say, cancer - imagine that!! Family members, doctors, etc telling you how great the chance will be that you'll get it too!!
Astounding.
"F.E.A.R.
Forgive Everyone And Remember
For Everything A Reason"
Ian Brown |
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maccafan
130 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2011 : 21:12:01
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It is known that we all have cancer cells circulating in our bodies all the time and our fantastic immune system usually destroys these cells before they can settle somewhere and start to colonize. If our immune system is not working up to par for some reason then that's when the trouble can start.
Dr. Sarno has written how the unconscious mind can by way of the autonomic nervous system lessen the blood flow in a particular area of the body causing pain and other symptoms. He has also said the unconcious mind can affect the immune system as well. I understand him to mean that the unconscious mind will go so far as to cause cancer, etc. as a distraction from repressed unbearable emotions. I don't think he means it is the only cause of these deseases but that it can be one of them.
And that's why I say the unconscious mind is just damn dumb if it will go so far as to kill off its own host. I think it is already ridiculous that it has caused myself and so many others so much pain and misery because it's afraid we may freak out about something in public or get really upset remembering how we were mistreated as a child and all the other reasons. So many of us have said how we'd rather feel the emotional pain than the physical pain. But I do believe the unconscious mind is causing most of the physical pain, etc. that humans suffer from which is just stupid, primitive, ignorant and nutso! I just really hope that the dumb thing doesn't really go so far as to possibly kill us! |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2011 : 09:55:20
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quote:
Originally posted by maccafan
And that's why I say the unconscious mind is just damn dumb if it will go so far as to kill off its own host.
Do not consider the unconscious mind to be some kind of intellegent being. TMS is triggered by primitive parts of our brain, as a protective mechanism against the perceived threat of repressed emotions. One of the possible mechanisms by which TMS "attacks" us is to alter the chemistry of our immune system such that we become susceptible to experience symptoms from invaders that would ordinarily be suppressed. An example of this is the infamous h.plyori bacteria that "causes" stomach irritation and ulcers. While it may be true that the bacteria is responsible, it is also true that many people who do not have ulcers also harbor this bacteria. The immune system is compromised by stress, allowing the normally harmless bacteria to become pathological.
If our immune system is in a constant fight with elements that can potentially cause cancer, it is not so farfetched that emotional factors can make our bodies more hospitable to them. There are many documented studies of people who overcome cancer with a strong will and positive emotions. Why can't the reverse also be true? |
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The Unconscious Mind is just damn dumb if...
