I would like to focus on the interesting topic of "mind over matter" and the ever-present problem of placing too much emphasis on one factor over another. It can be an incredibly helpful thought that our minds can control our physiological state and can be empowering for those who feel they do not have control over their biology or have the exact opposite example.
One really interesting example I found of this is the yoga/meditation technique called Tum-mo that has been studied for its affect on physiological state. Here is the link to an article from the Harvard Gazette (from 10 years ago) about a study done by Herbert Benson on Tibetan monks practicing Tum-mo. Benson states (in the above article) that he is interested in studying advanced forms of meditation since he believes that they, "can uncover capacities that will help us to better treat stress-related illnesses".
This idea I think is interesting to think about in relation to this whole big book about stress-related illnesses. He has developed the "relaxation response" which is essentially the opposite physiological state of stress and, "it is characterized by decreases in metabolism, breathing rate, heart rate, and blood pressure". I thought this was interesting in light of the book. Any thoughts on his idea?
Also, he said in the article that he was planning on trying it out again the following winter. However, I was unable to find (if anyone wants to try looking, feel free to do so and share!) information about another attempt. I did however when looking him up find that he has since then written somewhat extensively on the health benefits of prayer.
Another interesting case is that of Wim Hof known as the "Ice Man" who essentially runs shoeless and shirtless in freezing temperatures and attributes this ability to his practice of Tum-mo. Here is a discovery channel video about him (I didn't watch all of it, but if you are interested in his story check it out). Hof (who holds 18 world records) has climbed Kilamanjaro in 2 days wearing only his shorts and can remain immersed in a bath of ice for 1 hour and 44 minutes. He also published a book recently (November 2011) called, Becoming the Iceman.
If anyone is interested in reading more about scientific studies of Tum-mo (including Benson's actual study)
Benson et al. (1982) Body temperature changes during the practice of g Tum-mo yoga., PDF: http://lib.semi.ac.cn:8080/tsh/dzzy/wsqk/Nature/295-234.pdf
Ding-E Young, John and Taylor, Eugene (1998) Meditation as a Voluntary Hypometabolic State of Biological Estivation, PDF: http://physiologyonline.physiology.org/content/13/3/149.full.pdf
That was the mind over matter is awesome and super cool portion. Now here comes the negative side. The book mentions Bernie S. Siegel and his book, Love, Medicine and Miracles (New York: Harper & Row, 1986). The main point of the book is that, "the most effective way of stimulating the immune system is through love, and that miraculous healing happens to patients who are brave enough to love" (178). Sapolsky explains quite well what the problem with this view is:
"No matter how often he puts in disclaimers saying that he's not trying to make people feel guilty, the book's premise is that (a) cancer can be caused by psychosocial factors in the person; (b) cancer (or any other disease, as far as I can tell) is curable if the patient has sufficient courage, love, and spirit; (c)if the patient is not cured, it is because of insufficient amounts of those admirable traits. As we have just seen, this is not how cancer works, and a physician simply should not go about telling seriously ill people otherwise" (179).
This is an incredibly dangerous viewpoint that can essentially have the disempowering effect of making patients feel responsible for their illness. Illness can be incredibly stressful and this blames those who aren't getting better and accuses them of not having the right attitude to get better. There are plenty of people who have the 'right' attitude but don't get better and this could make them feel defeated.
There is obviously a lot more about this that could be said, but, I wrote way more than 300 words and would rather hear what other people have to say about it.
I think the "mind over matter," idea is really interesting and completely agree that it can be empowering but also dangerous and unfair to people who are sick. When I was reading "Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers," I had these two opposing reactions. On the one hand I thought the author was able to back up his thesis that long-term stress is responsible for increasing a persons likelihood of getting sick with a lot of evidence and clear examples. You could read this book and feel empowered to lower your chances of getting ill, by trying to decrease stress in your life. At the same time, I felt like the author put too much emphasis on stress being the main factor for why people get sick. Like Dana says, this could be interpreted dangerously, because if someone is ill it could be said that it’s "their fault," because they were too stressed. There are many factors for why a person gets sick; it’s not all about stress.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it's much easier to say you are going to be less stressed then to actually do it. Can the average person realistically significantly reduce their stress level? Every time I get stressed out, I'm now going to think about this book and how my stress level is increasing my risk of illness. Then I will probably feel more stressed out. So I don't know how helpful this book will be in a) encouraging people to decrease their stress level, and b) making people feel more in control over decreasing their chance of illness. I don't know if "mind over matter," is an attainable strategy.