Dear Hania
I think I can see the cause of your confusion.
What I am saying is that there are clear associations between stress and
inneffective stress management and disease of almost any kind. Both these
factors can make a contribution to either the onset or exacerbation of any
disease. That is clear. It is also clear that improvement in stress
management with techniques such as mindfulness meditation decreases the
effect of external stress.
My other statement is that assertions of a correlation between specific
personality styles or traits and specific illnesses is mostly unfounded. I
am not aware of the reseach you quote on breast cancer and type C
personality. All I can say is that in the past there has been a plethora of
poorly conducted research and pseudoscience which has been thoroughly
discredited. This is a good thing as these fallacies led to a lot of poor
treatment and unnecessary suffering. One obvious example is years of
innefective treatment of duodenal ulcers based on a psychosomatic model.
Tibetan monks had a high incidence of duodenal ulcers despite all their
meditation and healthy lifestyle. Now that we know these ulcers are caused
by the bacteria helicobacter pylori they are receiving effective treatment
with antibiotics. And they report feeling much better thank you very much.
The success of the treatment has been confirmed by good quality stuies
which involve looking at the duodenum with a gastroscope before and after
treatment. The disappearance of the ulcers confirms that the effect is not
just symptomatic.
So to be completely clear there is no doubt a strong connection between
stress and illness. Nonetheless there is extremely little good quality
evidence for specific connections between particular psychological traits
and particular illnesses. That is because there are too many confounding
variables such as genetic vulnerabilities, dietary and other environmental
factors etc.
Cheers
Chris Walsh
Melbourne, Australia
ph +61 (0)3 9487 4647
www.cwalsh.com.au
On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Hania Moser <haniamoser@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Chris and All
Chris, I've found your post very confusing - as you're throwing away - in
one shoot - psychosomatic scientific findings and then you're stating "What
was discovered however was that poor stress management and high levels of
stress both contributed to and exacerbate almost any physical or
psychiatric condition."
- could you please be specific what do you mean by a "high level of stress"
and how it's different from psychosomatic symptoms?... As it seems obvious
that stress is a description of physiological pressure which leads to
changes in body functioning, forming an illness, if the pressure is too
heavy and too long for the body to cope with. (There are interesting
articles about some confusions with the word stress, so popular and
commonly used now; it was firstly used by non-English speaker and
scientist-endocrynologist Hans Selye in 50ties, who is the father of
physiology of stress; it's hard to believe that before him no one was using
that word in the meaning we know now).
What you call "stress" must be therefore the same what is a core of
psychosomatic relations between body and psyche!
I'd like to know more about your findings about researches you've mentioned
which would proof that there is no substantial evidence about links between
psychological condition and physical condition - as your post suggests:
"Some very reputable medicos including university
professsors made very confident assertions almost none of which were ever
borne out by evidence. One notable exception was a relationship between
type A personality when combined with certain speech patterns having a
strong correlation with high blood pressure."
During my university studies in 80ties and following my interests in
psychosomatic psychology with practical application of this knowledge to my
practice in over 20 years, I've learnt that there have been conducted
researches with evidence about links between psyche and body, and there is
a lot of evidence (not just assertions) about it. And having clients in
psychotherapy with specifically psychosomatic issues I've experienced also
that there are links between psyche and body, with withdrawing somatic
symptoms following psychotherapy (sorry if that sounds too obvious, but
that's why I'm writing in response to your post).
Below - for those interested in the subject of brast cancer - I pasted an
excerpt from a naturopath article about so called personality C
(scientifically proved in 80ties as a correlation with breast cancer, and
later also linked to other types of a cancer); that text indicates similar
findings from others:
Dr. Jean-Jacques Dugoua:
Recently, behavioural oncologists have attempted to conceptualize a Type
C personality type, i.e. a personality type more at risk for cancer. Based
on their findings, the following characteristics describe a Type C
personality:
- denial and suppression of emotions, in particular anger
- pathological niceness
- avoidance of conflicts
- exaggerated social desirability
- harmonizing behaviour
- over-compliance
- over-patience
- high rationality
- rigid control of emotional expression (anti-emotionality)
According to behavioural oncologists, the façade of pleasantness with
a Type C personality will collapse over time due to the impact of
accumulated stressors, especially those evoking feelings of
depression and
reactions of helplessness and hopelessness. The coping style of Type C
personalities, i.e. excessive denial, avoidance, suppression and
repression
of emotions, appears to weaken natural resistance to carcinogenic
influences.
Recent studies show that psycho-social stressors which are
characterized by inadequate and repressive coping mechanisms are
associated
with changes in immune competency, including both humoral and
cellmediated
immunity. Relationships between different immune parameters
(natural killer
cell activity, lymphocytes, serotonin uptake, mean platelet volume)
and
mood states, psychological coping styles and personality variables
have
been discovered.
In the case of breast cancer research, studies show that the clinical
course of the disease is influenced by psycho-social factors and
coping
styles. Breast cancer patients have a more favourable outcome when
they
have a higher fighting spirit, a greater potential for aggression and
lesser suppressive tendencies.
Do not ignore the association between your mind and your physical
symptoms. As we see from research, a symptom that is diagnosed
as only in
your mind, can translate into a disease in your body! This
reminds me of a
cartoon I saw in a newspaper a few years back. A tombstone had the
following engraving: I told you it wasnt only in my head.
With Love
--
Hania Moser, M.Psych., Melbourne
*
Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is learning of letting go
every day. Zen Proverb*
On 22 February 2012 22:01, Chris Walsh <constellationflow@xxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:
Hi Michael60s
Traditional western medicine went down the path of trying to relate
specific psychological characteristics to specific illnesses in the 50s
and 70s. This branch of medicine was even given the special name ofor
psychosomatics. Some very reputable medicos including university
professsors made very confident assertions almost none of which were ever
borne out by evidence. One notable exception was a relationship between
type A personality when combined with certain speech patterns having a
strong correlation with high blood pressure.
What was discovered however was that poor stress management and high
levels of stress both contributed to and exacerbate almost any physical
psychiatric condition. I think we can extrapolate from this finding thatto
entanglements that interfere with us receiving our life force from our
parents will do the same, as these entaglements decrease our resistance
stress. I don't know how rigorous the audience would be at a alternativedynamics
health conference but I for one would be certainly be impressed by a
presentation that takes into account the current state of the evidence.
Cheers
Chris Walsh
Melbourne, Australia
ph +61 (0)3 9487 4647
www.cwalsh.com.au
On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 5:38 AM, Michael Reddy <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:
**
Hi Martin, Maria,
Thanks for your posts.
Maria, perhaps I should have explained more. I have to sit at a table
in March at an exposition on "alternative methods for healing and
preventing breast cancer." I'm trying to augment my experience as
much as possible for the purpose of being able to talk to people at
the exposition. It's not for the purpose of facilitating actual
constellations.
I agree with your statement, in effect, that "any symptom can relate
to anything." On the other hand, it's not helpful to say that in a US
context where constellation work is largely unknown.
What I would like to be able to say to people is something like "while
it may or may not relate to your own or your loved one's situation,
our community has seen cases where such and such was involved, or at
other times, this or that."
I hope that clarifies the query further.
Best,
Michael
Michael Reddy, PhD, CPC, ELI-MP
michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.reddyworks.com
Holistic Health & Happiness
DIAL IN TO OUR FREE, WEEKLY, QUESTION & ANSWER
TELECONFERENCE--THE CONSTELLATION CALL
Q&A on Family Constellations and Coaching
Tuesdays 8-8:45 PM EST
(530) 216 4363 PIN 481775#
What is The Constellation Cal
On Feb 21, 2012, at 12:41 PM, Maria Goossens wrote:
Dear all,
It is very interesting to collect cases with a certain pathology,
tinitus, breastcancer, whatever, ... However, each human being is
unique, each symptom can catch every possible energy. The same
symptom can even catch the energy from something different with each
novel constellation. It is impossible to link symptoms with a
specific entanglement.
Best wishes,
Maria Goossens, MD
goossens.maria@xxxxxxxxxx
Op 21 feb 2012, om 16:52 heeft Michael Reddy het volgende geschreven:
Hello All,
Can anyone offer information based on their experiences with
cancerthey have seen behind tinnitus (ringing in the ears) or breast
(especially when it recurs after treatment)?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Best,
Michael
Michael Reddy, PhD, CPC, ELI-MP
michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.reddyworks.com
Holistic Health & Happiness
DIAL IN TO OUR FREE, WEEKLY, QUESTION & ANSWER
TELECONFERENCE--THE CONSTELLATION CALL
Q&A on Family Constellations and Coaching
Tuesdays 8-8:45 PM EST
(530) 216 4363 PIN 481775#
What is The Constellation Call?
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