Spirituality & Adversity: “Mind/Body/Spirit”
The fourth in a series of posts on the experience of adversity.
If you experience any of the following adverse reactions…
There seems to have been quite widespread agreement in these comment threads on what might be conceived of as two forms of adversity:
1. “Stuff happens” as they say… Adverse events outside our control sometimes occur.
2. Our reactions to stuff happening can themselves be negative, adding to our experience of adversity; this is something that we all need to watch for.
…then consult a psychologist/spiritual advisor immediately?
One comment brought to mind a view I’ve encountered at times among practitioners of alternative medicine. Not, in my experience, from most; but from a sizeable minority.
In this view, illness is never something that “just happens” to us as in category one above. Physical health problems are always caused at least in part by the patient’s psychological issues or spiritual difficulties.
In recent years this view has gained considerable popularity among the general public. Lectures, books, and tapes on “mind/body/spirit” abound. The category itself suggests that the psychological, the physical, and the spiritual are all of a piece.
Can you be sick in the body without being sick in the psyche and/or spirit?
If you experience any of the following adverse reactions…
There seems to have been quite widespread agreement in these comment threads on what might be conceived of as two forms of adversity:
1. “Stuff happens” as they say… Adverse events outside our control sometimes occur.
2. Our reactions to stuff happening can themselves be negative, adding to our experience of adversity; this is something that we all need to watch for.
…then consult a psychologist/spiritual advisor immediately?
One comment brought to mind a view I’ve encountered at times among practitioners of alternative medicine. Not, in my experience, from most; but from a sizeable minority.
In this view, illness is never something that “just happens” to us as in category one above. Physical health problems are always caused at least in part by the patient’s psychological issues or spiritual difficulties.
In recent years this view has gained considerable popularity among the general public. Lectures, books, and tapes on “mind/body/spirit” abound. The category itself suggests that the psychological, the physical, and the spiritual are all of a piece.
Can you be sick in the body without being sick in the psyche and/or spirit?
Posted by Paul at 5:32 PM Permalink
23 Comments:
About the attitude one has to bad things happening ... it would be mentally healthy, I think, to be pretty upset, angry, and depressed when bad things happen. I know most people find it more comforting to make lemonade out of lemons, though.
CRYSTAL: From what I've read, also some people I've known, I feel quite certain that's true - that your attitude can have an effect on your health. But I see what you mean about how it has a ring of "blaming the victim" to go far beyond that and take the position I posted about: viz., that psychological/spiritual unwellness is necessarily implicated in disease.
I think you're right - that initially, it would be odd if a person did not respond negatively to seriously adverse events. The well know "stages of grief" acknowledges this. It's a process.
When people stay "stuck" in negative reactions - that's when I would think it becomes detrimental.
KAI: That's good. Just remember that if you don't come out with an answer to my liking, then the seething caldron of psychic/spiritual negativity underlying my chronic illness will bubble over and things are apt to get mighty ugly around here...
This is something I just cannot get behind. I have seen friends and family -- healthy, happy, wonderfully well-adjusted people -- become stricken with dreadful diseases.
I really believe that life is random and that much of the hand we are dealt (re: pertaining to physical ailments) is random, too (and/or genetic).
Paul, I will change my blogroll to reflect your wonderful new blog tonight. Sorry it's taken me so long.
You are among my favorite bloggers, not just because of your wonderful insights and writing, but because of the special person you are.
Those who were injured on the job seem to be held back by their resentment of their employers' (typical) lack of caring--the auto accident victims (generally) seem to take it less personally, and recover faster.
And I HAVE noticed that all the patients I see with medical ailments that defy treatment, are coincidentally in a crisis in their personal lives...
But the "why me?" question applies to all of them--
There seems to be some consensus among modern spiritual writers, such as Sylvia Browne, that illness and accident, as well as congenital disabilities, are opportunities by which our souls can develop and grow by the experience--and that severe disability is a sign that the soul is "advanced", and ready to be tested in this way. There is also the theory (with a lot of evidence, I feel) that we ourselves write our "life script" before coming to this life from the spiritual plane, including the "bad things that just happen"!
To me this makes intuitive sense--much more than believing in luck or random chance...
By the way, Paul--there is also the theory that suppressing one's "bubbling cauldron of negativity", by trying to be pleasant too often, can lead to disease...
Physical problems can affect our psychological and spiritual health. By the same token psychological problems can affect our physical and spiritual health. The same thing can be said about spiritual problems.
It doesn't necessarily follow though that if a person becomes physically ill, they are bound to become psychologically and spiritually ill too and so on. It is not necessarily the case that when a person becomes "sick in the body" it is because they were first sick in the psyche or sick spiritually. A lot of a person's health is due to their genes. However, I do think that when a person is faced with a sick body, beefing up their psychological and spiritual health helps them physically.
Years ago I read a story about a man who was terribly sick. According to the story, there was no hope for him. Well, he decided to watch as many funny movies as he could get his hands on. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Some people laugh so hard that they practically laugh themselves to death. In this man's case, he laughed himself to health.
There is a lot to be said about the merry heart and its benefits. A happy disposition aids our immune systems.
I agree with that. A reaction when bad things happen is healthy but some do get stuck in a negative feedback cycle.
My understanding is it doesn't cause any diseases or physical ailments. It only makes things worse.
An example is feeling angry/sad/depressed over something bad that happened and gradually learning to live with it even though it doesn't go away. The other possibility is brooding over it for years which would mean living with your mind focused only on the bad thing. It's makes things seem worse because you never see anything else anymore.
I think for now I'll let each stand for itself. It may be that I could treat them best in the next post or that you'll end up responding to each other in this thread.
Stacey, thanks about the link. I can't believe we haven't already cross linked - I'll check my roll and if you're not already on it I'll add you.
Firebird - Damn you! More later...
SUSIEQ and AHMAD H: Thanks for staking out intermediate positions here. I'm beginning to think that all this is best looked at together in a follow up post.
Susie, I can't quite decide whether your story is more uplifting, funny, or sad. I think that the guy himself may have been confused about this in his last moments!
Ahmad, thanks for stopping by - that's well stated and succinctly put: "My understanding is it {the mind} doesn't cause any diseases or physical ailments. It only makes things worse."
When does a "targedy" stop being tragic and start being acceptable, and why should it be so, aside from the fact that it makes it easier, both for the sufferer and those having to be around them?
Crystal, when you are mourning the death of a loved one, I understand that it is important that you go through the typical process rather than trying to jump ahead to acceptance. Sometimes we make the mistake of trying to get over things too quickly. We need to give ourselves time to heal properly.
I think your questions are more important than the possible answers.
For myself, I find that considering myself to be an animal - one that has evolved to a state that's way too sophisticated for its own health - is more helpful than any "spiritual" perspective.
To me, it is an obvious starting point that mind, body and spirit are all of a piece. Except that the products of mind (rather than mind itself) ought to be considered mainly as fantasies and never confused with reality. Does this include science? Yes, why not?
in the majority of cases, i would think that the mind leads to the physical part of being sick; discounting a small percentage of the very healthy in mind, who are unfortunate victims of physical illness.
"When does a tragedy stop being a tragedy..." This sounds to me like it may revert to the problem of evil, which Soulpeace also comments on at the end of previous post's comments. Maybe that's something for an upcoming post - big topic...
YVES: I think I'd need to hear more to follow your first comment. On your second, I agree. Many therapists/advisors share this view themselves, and see their task as helping the person find his or her own way.
SUSIEQ: Glad to hear it! And what you say about the grieving process makes sense to me.
MISTIPURPLE: So it sounds like you see physical illness as usually but not necessarily always caused by the mind...
Cousins received the Albert Schweitzer Prize in 1990. He died of heart failure on November 30, 1990 in Los Angeles, California, having survived years longer than his doctors predicted: 10 years after his first heart attack, 16 years after his collagen illness, and 26 years after his doctors first diagnosed his heart disease."
PAULINE: Thanks, I looked at the link but didn't see anything readily apparent like a quick summary which is what I'd need. I'm afraid I'm short on time resources - semi bedridden with much of my up time accounted for.
Interesting case. They do work both ways, in terms of anecdotal evidence. See for example Stacey's comment above.
N2: A lot could depend here on what you mean by "sick." So again it's the nature of the connections in that whole about which people differ.
Anyone with a serious illness will be affected by that in one way or another - and in more than one way, over time, if the illness is long term. Some of those effects, especially intially, are bound to be unhappy or negative. But mental "sickness" of that kind is often part of the road to recovery and reintegration and whether the person recovers physically or not.
My experience has been that strong belief in a mind/body/spirit connection works really well for healthy people.
Yes, if you are ill you most likely will feel depression and very often will have a crisis of faith. There is a strong psychological element in the process of adjusting from the normality of wellness to the normality of illness. I myself spent three years in therapy adjusting to that change. And, it is entirely possible to have mental health issues as well as physical health issues at the same time that are unconnected.
Stress can be a physical catalyst that can impact both mental and physical health.
You can see why people are so confused by it all. There's an obvious overlapping.
But it does annoy me that I had to go into a coma and almost die for my friends and family to stop handing me this or that quack remedy, telling me I needed more exercise or for my doctors to seriously consider that there actually was something wrong with me.
I know there are people out there who enjoy the idea of being sick. But society has a bias towards this mind/body/soul connection that actually is harmful to those of us who do not fall under the "worried well" category.
I'm probably not answering your question very clearly. I continue to be frustrated by this issue.
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