Let Your Thoughts Be Your Medicine – Psychology as the First Line of Defense

 Authors:

Rahman Beckwith (1), Noor Beckwith (2)

(1)  Doctoral candidate in Psychology, Eisner Institute for Professional Studies

(2)  Medical Student, Harvard Medical School

Contact Information:

Rahmanheals@gmail.com

Short Bios:

Rahman Beckwith is a Holistic Therapist in Pennsylvania who integrates spirituality and mind-body healing modalities. After graduating from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology, she continued her studies in healing and is currently earning her doctoral degree in Psychology from Eisner Institute for Professional Studies.

Noor Beckwith is a medical student at Harvard Medical School, and is a graduate from Harvard University.  He has studied alternative medicine in China, and has worked with Dr. Paul Farmer on mental health issues in Haiti. 

Abstract:

Studies show that patients can use visualization to improve healing. Yet the potential of the human mind is untapped.  As we realize and verify its capacities, this understanding may lay the foundations for radically new standards in medicine.

Mind-body medicine involves using interventions such as meditation, visualization, and other mental modalities to alter the state of the body. Since the mind is inextricably integrated with the body through cascades of chemical reactions that include and interact with thought and emotion, this method is logical and unsurprising. The implications of this are far-reaching; for example, if a human is able to calm the mind and body through psychological healing and meditation, could intentional healing be a next step? When will the human mind, through the faculties of its own thoughts, intentions, positive energy, and visualization capacities be thought of as a healing machine? I argue that the time is in the not-too-distant future that such potentialities will be understood as the status quo.

Both negative and positive mental-emotional states impact health.  The flight-or-fight response is one well-known example of emotional stimulation that leaves the body weakened if the chemicals of agitation are allowed to aggregate in the body systems without being released. This in turn leads to weakened immunity and heightened susceptibility to illness, as well as unnecessary wear and tear on the body. 

Conversely, much research has been done to show that the intentional use of mental faculties can cause measurable positive changes to human physiology, supporting the potential of using mind-body techniques as direct healing tools. For example, simply suggesting to patients that they have some control over their health has been shown to boost spirits, energy and well-being (Jacobs, 2001). Mind-body methods have also been shown to initiate the placebo effect in 20-70% of patients in studies (Jacobs, 2001); note that this is comparable to the treatment success rate of many medications (Howick et al., 2013). Therefore, employing the human mind as a tool for healing has a solid basis, and ongoing research continues to expand this frontier.

One specific application of mind-body methodology is the encouragement of patients to focus on directly healing injuries or curing disorders within themselves. This category of mind-body medicine lies at the periphery, sometimes perhaps labeled as magical thinking, for the possibility of its goals are still to be rigorously scientifically verified. But the research exploring these ideas has already yielded exciting results. For example, according to a study published in the December 2012 issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (Maddison et al., 2012), patients who had undergone knee surgery and who were given guided imagery practices in addition to rehabilitation fared better than those in the control group who only received the normal rehabilitation without imagery. Those who had been taught to mentally rehearse physical therapy exercises and to visualize the physiological repair processes of their knee ligaments – such as scar tissue becoming flexible through stretching – showed greater improvements in knee stability and demonstrated lower levels of stress.

As Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said, ‘Let your food be your medicine, your medicine your food’, so I say ‘Let your thoughts be your medicine, your medicine, your thoughts’. Thoughts and mental-emotional states clearly affect the body. Through burgeoning research in this area, we discover how individuals can learn to direct their mental processes in a healing way, through guided imagery, visualization and intention. This is consciousness-based healing. 

The potential of the human mind is still just beginning to be understood. With greater understanding and utilization of the potential of our human minds, we may soon be able to become whole, healthy and happy simply through seeing ourselves as such. I believe that this understanding will become central in the future of medicine as we realize and verify our mental capacities. Other, more conventional methods of intervention may perhaps even become secondary as psychology becomes a first line of defense in healing.

References:

Howick, J. et al. (2013). Are Treatments More Effective than Placebos? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLOS One, 8(5):e62599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062599.

Jacobs, G. D. (2001). The Physiology of Mind-Body Interactions: The Stress Response and the Relaxation Response. The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, 7(1), S-83-S-92.

Maddison, R. et al. (2012). Guided Imagery to Improve Functional Outcomes Post-Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair: Randomized-Controlled Pilot Trial. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports,  22(6). 816–821.