Hope and Silence gives birth to nothing, however, Hope Verbalized gives Birth to Faith. Faith and Persistence is the Fabric of Creation !
The brain plays a crucial role in controlling the body. However, is mind powerful enough to overcome illnesses such as cancer? This question not easily answered but new observations suggest that perhaps hope can help person heal using endorphins produced pituitary gland and then sent nervous system block messages of pain. idea wishful thinking illness exciting, alone fight off major sicknesses. One has to find balance 
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On the surface there is practical evidence that a hopeful outlook can help a person heal. Someone who believes that he or she might eventually get better when afflicted with a life threatening disease is more likely to take care of his or her body. This approach of taking care of ones body with the hope that it might heal can keep a person alive until better methods of treating her specific disease come along. This type of hope is believed to have helped some HIV patients who were first diagnoses with the virus. As these individuals took various steps to stay as healthy as possible, scientific advances made living for a longer period of time with the virus viable. While this observation is interesting this type of hope does not actually help a person heal.
As Abraham Verghese writes in his article “The Way We Live Now: Hope and Clarity” there is a belief in our society that with hope and a positive outlook one can fight off a disease such as cancer. He writes “If you accept the war metaphor… then a diagnosis of cancer becomes a call to arms, an induction into an army and it goes without saying that in such a war optimism is essential. Memoirs of Cancer Centers state this as a creed: a ‘positive attitude’ influences survival” .
He goes on to argue that this belief is not backed by substantial scientific research and therefore adds pressure to patients to always appear positive when the realities of their situations warrant some realistic grief. Verghese cites a study from Australia, which suggests a positive attitude or hope did not have a substantial effect on the survival rate or health of lung cancer patients participating. He uses this study to show that hope cannot make a sick person magically better.
Jerome Groopman, author of “The Anatomy of Hope”, wrote: “Belief and expectation — the key elements of hope — can block pain by releasing the brain’s endorphins and enkephalins, mimicking the effects of morphine. In some cases, hope can also have important effects on fundamental physiological processes like respiration, circulation and motor function.” Groopman studies have shown that having hope positively impacts the nervous system, which then positively affects the whole body, giving it a higher chance of recovery. (CNN)
More interesting research on the topic came from Duane Bidwell who studied hope in kids with chronic illnesses. His studies show that there are five main modes of hope:
- “Maintaining identity by continuing to participate in activities and relationships that help patients retain a sense of self outside diagnosis and treatment.
- Realizing community through formal and informal connections that help patients understand they are not alone in living with disease. This community is made real through conversation, visitation, consultation and participation in daily activities.
- Claiming power by taking an active role in treatment by setting goals, self-advocating, monitoring and maintaining one’s own health.
- Attending to spirituality, activated through religious, spiritual and other contemplative practices.
- Developing wisdom, which involves both gaining pragmatic, medical wisdom derived from one’s own experience and finding ways to “give back.” (CNN)
According to Bidwell’s research, any of these modes of hope will help the healing process. This study connects to what I said earlier about those who believe that they are going to get better: they actively participate in their lives, do everything to stay as healthy as possible, they try to keep connections with those around them, and have as much fun as they can while laying in the hospital. These people, the ones with hope, although it’s not 100% scientifically are the ones that keep pushing and reach recovery.
Groopman uses the placebo effect to help explaining how the nervous system, with the help of hope, combats pain (Groopman, p.175-190). The placebo effect is widely accepted by medical doctors and scientists. It shows that in some cases a placebo or fake cure can satisfy patients and make them believe they are cured when in reality no medicine, surgery, or treatment has been given. For example a doctor who prescribes a sugar pill or pill containing no medicine to a group of patients suffering from an illness, without telling them that the drug is a placebo, will have some patients who report their symptoms have faded. It may seem that theses particular patients were not really that sick to begin with, but the placebo effect is actually thought to be a result of “belief and expectancy.”
The patient believes and expects the medication to cure her ailments. Belief is encouraged as the patient trusts that a doctor will be able to identify an illness and then find the appropriate medication to treat the problem. The patient then expects the treatment to work. This combination of belief and expectation can sometimes be enough to help a person recover form their symptoms.
Groopman argues that the same type of belief that is present with the placebo effect is similar to that created by a hopeful outlook. Within the body the theory that hope can heal is based within the nervous system. When a person is hopeful their body produces endorphins and enkephalins. These endorphins and enkephalins are chemicals, which alter the messages sent to the brain through the nervous system. The types of endorphins believed to be produced in a hopeful person’s pituitary gland include the beta-endorphin, which is thought to improve ones mood by blocking pain.
According to Groopman’s study in a hopeful patient’s body the endorphins prevent the brain from recognizing the message of pain sent through the nervous system. Without the message of pain the body is able to exert the energy necessary to recuperate from an illness. The endorphins and enkephalins are also thought to help improve the immune system. If the body is not preoccupied with the pain of an illness it might be able to fight off a life threatening disease.
The production of endorphins and enkephalins alone cannot explain the positive effects of hope on ill people. A hopeful person benefits from a positive outlook because his body is less likely to produce the chemicals, which can prolong an illness and are associated with a negative outlook. To explain how hopelessness can prolong an illness Groopman looks to the effects of Substance P and cholecystokinin also know as CKK(Groopman, p176).
These chemicals, when released in the central nervous system have the opposite effect of endorphins and enkephalins. CKK helps send the messages of pain to the brain thus
increasing ones hopelessness and suffering. Groopman argues these two chemicals are produced when a person is constantly reminded of an illness and the grave circumstances of their infirmity. This is common in patients who have serious illness with low survival rates. The pain creates a cycle, which is hard to escape. Groopman argues that this cycle can be broken with hope.
If we accept the theory that hope sends on endorphins and enkephalins that act in a fashion similar to pain killers blocking pain from the brain we are left with the fact that some very hopeful patients never heal and that some very negative thinkers survive the worst of illnesses. The answer to this problem is that while hope may help a person survive or at least feel better it is not a cure for disease. It is simply another tool that can help on the way to recovery.
Hopefully more research will come along to redefine and improve on Groopman’s observations but for the time being Verghese’s belief that hope is not a cure remains. Positive thinking and the mind do not have to power to completely overcome pain. However thanks to Groopman we now know that our minds and bodies together have the ability to protect us from certain pains, which could eventually help seriously ill people heal.
Sources
2.) Verghese, Abraham. “Hope and Clarity.” The New York Times Magazine February 22, 2004. Available on the web at the following web site: 5)New York Times Web Site,
3.) web site dealing with the issues faced by those with serious illness, a rich resource from Bryn Mawr College
4.) Acumen Journal Web Page, a life science journal
5.) Acumen Journal Web Page, a life science journal
6.) beta-Endorphin, a beta endorphine
Certified Emotion Code practitioner (Mis-spoken on the beginning of the video as a “Body Code” certified practitioner), Tim Janakos (in Japan) takes a live call from Natasha P (in Southern California) to see if there are any trapped emotions contributing to her Vitiligo, Thyroid and Adrenal problems or her Insomnia (Sleep Walking), weight gain symptoms and Fibromyalgia.
Working with the Emotion Code he first found that there were 7 trapped emotions of Overwhelm, and 1 trapped emotion of Worry from specific events in her life that were contributing to all or some of these problems.
After that he used the Body Code Healing System to discover that some contributing factors to her Sleepwalking and Insomnia problem were she had fungus in her body along with having blockages in her Heart Chakra, Spleen and Gallbladder Meridians, imbalances in her Pituitary Gland, and radiation from Chernobyl fallout from when she lived in Greece.
Tim was able to correct these imbalances by releasing the fungus and the radiation ,from her body and also by reconnecting her brain with her body and reconnecting her body with her brain (which wasn’t fully connected energetically). Also, he discovered her magnetic field was deficient, which he tried to remedy with sending magnetic energy throughout her meridians, but recommended she get more grounded with the earth,by putting her feet in sand at the beach or walking in a park barefoot on the grass.
We will try do a follow up call in about a week to see if any the things Tim did for her had noticeable effect on any of her symptoms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
