Monday, September 09, 2002

By HANK SREDNICKI

In 1977 at Yale University a new discipline called Behavioral Medicine was officially named. This specialty was born out of the need to consider very seriously the clinical use and relevance of the evidence emerging from a field of scientific research, which was later to become known as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).

PNI research investigates the connections between the mind, neuro-endocrine (nervous and hormonal) and immune systems, and the disciplines of Behavioral and Mind-Body Medicine that strive to apply this knowledge within a therapeutic framework. PNI research looks at the interactions between mental and emotional states, immune system functioning, and ultimately health. Healthcare today has passed from the surgical revolution through the chemical revolution to the behavioral revolution. I know it’s hard to believe but what most of us won’t admit does in fact occur. Namely, emotions, (okay, stress if that makes you feel better) can get us sick. Did you ever plan that big weekend or the once in a lifetime vacation only to get ill right before it or even in the midst of it?

According to PNI studies, what happens in our minds at the level of our perception (and our emotional reaction to that perception) can have real effects on our physiology (our physical response) and more specifically, our immune systems. Police officers and their families must realize that emotions go beyond stress. Your health is affected by most negative emotions or emotional states. So while this concept is not new at all to you, and ancient wisdom has always encouraged us to focus on maintaining a "healthy" mind in order to maintain a healthy body, it is only now that we are becoming able to prove and understand the connections.

Research in the field of the mind-body connection has revealed therapies and techniques that can help to reduce the impact of emotions on your immune system. They include being aware of your mind-body feedback; learning how to view life with a sense of commitment, control and challenge; developing strengths to fall back on in the wake of loss, and a capacity to confide traumas and feelings to yourself and others. There are also several therapies or techniques one can learn to utilize if necessary if one is afflicted with an injury, illness, or traumatic experience which all have direct impact on the immune system. Consider the following:

1. Guided Imagery or visualization is a process that involves the use of symbols to imagine the changes an individual desires to take place. Patients who enter this therapy are encouraged to relax and imagine a journey described by the practitioner. This may include having the patient imagine that their problem is like many other things that they know to be true but curable. An example of this would be relating the body's abilities to send the appropriate healing to a cut on the hand. In fact, while visualization has been used for many centuries, it gained a lot of attention in the early 1970s when cancer patients were first encouraged in a study to use it to fight cancer cells in their bodies. Research has clearly demonstrated that guided imagery could have an affect on the immune system. Researchers believe that visualization may reduce stress; thereby boosting the immune system and helping the body fight disease. It may also give people a more positive outlook on life.

2. Biofeedback was a term coined in the late 60s to describe laboratory procedures which were being used to train experimental research subjects to alter brain activity, blood pressure, heart rate, and other bodily functions that are not normally controlled voluntarily. Sensors allow the person to monitor their own muscle relaxation, heart rate, breathing patterns and perspiration and concentrate on changing it through either the visual or auditory information provided by the equipment.

Research has demonstrated though that biofeedback can help in the treatment of many diseases and painful conditions. Most patients who benefit from biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behavior. Most scientists believe that relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly those disorders induced or aggravated by stress. Disorders that have been successfully controlled with biofeedback include anxiety, migraines and various types of pain conditions.

Lastly, clinical hypnosis or the use of hypnosis by a practitioner trained in the mind-body connection to assist individuals in their own healing is showing a good deal of promise. Today complimentary practitioners in the medical community use hypnosis for many conditions.

Hypnosis is probably one of the most researched modalities in the area of mind-body therapies and yet because much of its success cannot be repeated in the laboratory, the scientific community has often felt it lacks credibility. Recent breakthroughs in Psychoneuroimmunology studies however, now give increasing evidence of the connection between mind-body communication and the rationale as to how hypnosis plays a factor in this. There are as many different definitions of hypnosis as there are beliefs about how it works. The previous examples of 'Guided Imagery' and 'Biofeedback' are inclusive in the hypnotic process. It is interesting to note that many people misconstrue hypnosis and it is this that promotes fear and mistrust about being controlled. A simple description of the hypnotic phenomena is that it is a form of self-induced, focused attention that can make it easier for you to relax or control your body's functions and ultimately aide in the recovery of some types of disease/illness and as well as provide a needed boost to your immune system. Patients also learn to do self-hypnosis and guided imagery on their own outside of the therapist’s office.

It is generally known that our bodies require two states during a twenty-four hour period, that of wakefulness and that of sleep. This is called our Circadian rhythms. Recently, research has indicated our bodies naturally go through rhythms during the day, which create a 'break response stimulus'. These rhythms are referred to as "Ultradian rhythms" and generally are about ninety minutes to two hours in length. During this period the mind-body pauses and turns inward to focus on it’s healing. Modern practitioners of clinical hypnosis utilize these natural ultradian rhythms to assist the patient to create a mental link between their required goal and natural physical abilities to heal. To achieve this the patient is guided by the therapist to a relaxed state, which allows for communication to the unconscious mind. It is at the unconscious level that many conditions and thoughts exist, which are out of reach to the conscious mind or that the conscious mind is ill equipped to deal with. What Psychoneuroimmunology is beginning to provide us with is a blue print of cellular and molecular communication between mind, body and gene which takes clinical hypnotherapy out of the realm of magic and into a psychobiological reason for success.

So if you have found yourself or a loved one suffering from an illness that just won’t go away or seems to return again and again, consulting a practitioner of one of the mind-body therapies may help.

Henry J. Srednicki, Ph.D. is chief psychologist of Upper Montclair Psychological Associates, LLC in Upper Montclair. You may Email Dr. Srednicki with questions or comments regarding this article at: DrHpsy@aol.com

193