Oncologic Pain, Stress and Anxiety
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As a certified hypnotherapist (CH) and neurolinguistic programmer (NLP) I began to look at my situation from another point of view... and so I decided to reimagine, reinterpret and reframe my cancer/oncologic experience through a simple hypnotic 'self-imagery' and neurolinguistic 'self-talk' ...and while doing this... I found that my pain, stress and anxiety gradually lessened. Soon I was able to sleep more reliably... and function with a level of certainty that allowed me to reenter my world with a more predictable level of clarity and confidence. This is what I want to share with you... the essence of my cancer/oncologic hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming experience relative to my pain and illness... because as time goes by... many of you will begin to realize that the growing side-effects of your chemotherapy/immunotherapy... will often rival the mind/body pain of your cancer or oncological distress.
Self-hypnosis is for all practical purposes... like daydreaming. You imagine... through 'self-imagery' a scene or situation you visualize yourself taking control of... on the screen within your mind. You reduce mind/body pain, stress and anxiety slowly and definitively. You take control of the 'movie' in your mind and let your inner 'script' work for you. Neurolinguistic programming allows you to learn a new and innovative 'self-talk.' You let go of the negative 'noise' in your head. You focus on words and phrases that enable you to get what you need when you need it. You speak confidently... both verbally and non-verbally... in such a manner that you 'interfere' with the road-blocks in your mind that once prevented you from changing your outlook... as you now are... with a new view of yourself. In this sense... you are indeed taking control of your cancer/oncological pain, stress and anxiety as well as your unpredictable side-effects.
My cancer/oncologic based hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming exercises are not therapeutic in any sense of the word. Your oncologist is your doctor. Nothing... definitively speaking... will stop chemotherapy/immunotherapy side-effects... nor will any self-help exercise replace any side-effect care your doctor may offer you. Self-hypnosis and neurolinguistics may assist you in reaching a new level of self-control with imaginative self-imagery and a new and innovative self-talk... that will help you to experience a sense of being in control of your side-effects and cancer/oncologic pain. I still... and will forever... depend upon my chemotherapy/immunotherapy regimen for my continued wellbeing... and so I continue to learn... accept... and experience... my cancer/oncological pain and its side-effects... by living with them everyday... just like you... but we do not have to let them dominate our thoughts and our lives.
A brief guide to Self-Hypnosis and imaginative Self-Imagery...
As I stated earlier... self-hypnosis is like daydreaming... you are aware of your activity... but you are not in any way utilizing your conscious or 'critical' mind in a 'judgement' fashion. That is... you allow yourself to become 'weightless' in both mind and body... you defy 'gravitational' pain, stress and anxiety as you sit or recline in comfortable surroundings... progressively relaxing your neuromusculoskeletal system... freeing it from the unconscious postural expressions self-defense... looking only to concentrate on the 'movie in your mind' as you create 'self-imagery' conducive to your objective. Your objective may be to sleep... reduce pain... or minimize the side-effects of chemotherapy/immunotherapy... but in the end your mind allows your body to receive... and accept... instructions which will help you to correct negative thinking with positive self-imagery... as you make the mind/body loop from top to bottom... and bottom to top... taking back your body from the disease and treatment negatives you may have become accustomed to... while releasing your mind and body from its pain, stress and anxiety. As you read this you might ask yourself... can a simple and uncomplicated idea like 'self-hypnosis' really work in this way? The answer is... yes it can... and if you continually review this paragraph with uncritical thoughts... you will see that you already know how to do this... and have done it before... many times in your life before your disease. Use your imagination as you have used it all of your life... rest your critical mind and let your body renew its strength and vigor at its own pace.
A brief guide to Neurolinguistics and innovative 'Self-Talk.'
Neurolinguistic programming is not unlike self-hypnosis... but instead of focusing on the visual or imagery cues within your mind... you focus on your unconscious and conscious words... sentences... and phrases you habitually speak to yourself and others... within and without your mind... which can negatively affect your body through the creation of the stressful expressive postures of self-defense. Words have meaning intellectually as well as physiologically. They affect our state-of-mind. Take for instance the term 'partly cloudy' as opposed to 'partly sunny.' Both are one and the same... but one seems more positive than the other. You must take the time to listen to yourself during the course of your day and hear the often freely based negative intonations of your 'self-talk' in relation to your disease and/or chemotherapy/immunotherapy side-effects. You will be amazed at what you think are harmless thoughts or words... but your mind remembers them... and transmutes those words into feelings which your body will process as either negative or positive influences on your disease and its treatment. To cleanse your mind of idle negativity and promote a positive 'self-talk' experience... you must willfully accept responsibility for your thoughts of mind... and their transmutation into bodily feelings. This is a twenty-four hour a day process. From waking to sleeping. You must develop a positive approach to the negative patterns of your disease and its side-effects. Once again... you already know how to do this... and have done it before. Take control of your thoughts and create better feelings... both inside and out.
To summarize...
The idea that one can alter his or her reactions to the traumas, toxins and thoughts associated with cancer and chemotherapy/immunotherapy might seem somewhat foreign to many of you upon first reflection... but the evidence is most abundantly clear that mind/body... or body/mind approaches to cancer/oncologic pain, stress and anxiety can be influenced by behavioral and attitudinal alterations by the use of self-hypnosis and neurolinguistics. Learning the simple... effective concepts of imaginative self-imagery and innovative self-talk can... in many cases... bring a measure of relief and relaxation to those dealing with such a disease process and its chemical components. With that in mind... I encourage those reading this to explore... beyond this brief introduction... the infinite possibilities of both mind and body in the struggle against the negative thoughts and feelings often association with 'bad-days' while pushing forward and creating 'good-days' out of bad.
Developing a positive and promising 'outlook' on life... as it is... can help you to take back a good measure of your own... 'self-determination.'
Self-Destructive Drives/Auto-Suggestion
A brief guide to applied psychoanalytic theories and concepts...
Self-destructive drives and auto-suggestion are of course direct references to psychodynamic and/or psychoanalytic theories and concepts that attempt to explain the activities of the unconscious and its effects upon both mind and body... most especially when an individual is subject to lifetime stresses that may include variations of chronic pain and/or anxiety. The fact that these influences are 'unconscious' shows they are not readily understood or acknowledged by the client/patient... and very often go consciously 'unnoticed' ... or as a 'mystery' for over an entire lifetime.
One might ask why a chiropractor would show so much interest in the activities of the unconscious mind. Well, ...my interest in such unconscious drives relates to chiropractic's concept of 'auto-suggestion,' as Dr. Daniel David Palmer, the founder of chiropractic and Palmer College of Chiropractic, believed that negative 'self-talk' could and world unconsciously influence the wellbeing of the individual if not neutralized and mitigated through the work a healthy and homeostatic central nervous system... and Dr. Willard Carver, also a pioneering chiropractor and founder of Carver College of Chiropractic, wrote extensively on the subject of suggestion throughout his life, and practiced it in his private practice believing that client/patients sometimes needed 'corrective' conversation via 'suggestion' during their chiropractic visits. Also... chiropractic and psychoanalysis... as well as hypnotherapy... shared one theory in common... that the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) is an unconscious 'free-energy' system which is self-regulated... and without undue internal and/or external influences... would maintain itself in health over the course on one's life. Chiropractic, Psychoanalysis and Hypnosis are byproducts of a time in healthcare where the wellbeing of one's innate intelligence and the 'bodily' ego (the self-governing forces of both mind and body) were considered vital to a lifelong resistance to, once again, the internal and external agents of 'dis-ease.'
While studying applied psychoanalytic theory in my one year graduate/certificate course in modern psychoanalytic concepts in New Jersey... I came to understand the role of 'drives' and 'instincts' and how they play into the everyday aspects of life and living... unbeknownst to the individual... as well as how they can influence one's mind/body behavior which may allow for... chronic pain, stress and anxiety... and general bouts of vague, ill-defined and restless 'states-of-mind.' In my chiropractic practice I often observed these issues through my patient's expressive postures and positions... and during the subsequent analysis and interpretations of those postural positions. Today I lecture and teach on how to recognize those repetitive and habitual structural, behavioral and kinesthetic... expressive postures.
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In the case of what we might call 'self-destructive drives,' one could categorize such drives... as those thoughts and feelings that may... over the long haul... promote circumstances in thought that will give way to states-of-mind that might not have developed... but for those thoughts and feelings.
In many cases symptoms such as postural and positional (ideomotor) tension headaches, various neuromusculoskeletal complaints, as well as some brain and nervous system disorders can be affected by thoughts and feelings that are created by habitual reactive responses to internal and external stresses which may lead to bouts of non-specific anxiety and other painful symptoms associated with an over-stimulated nervous system.
In the case of chemotherapy/immunotherapy pain, stress and anxiety... self-destructive drives are often borne of the new and distressing situation in which the patient finds him or herself... and with each advancement of unexplained pain, stress and anxiety... a patient might feel somewhat helpless and confused at the array of seemingly contradictory symptoms that take on various forms and degrees as a condition tries expands its grasp upon the patient.
Self-destructive drives... are negative and emotional evaluations of one's situation. They are influencers relative to a patient's care and wellbeing. Those who adopt these drives as inevitable... further these drives and strengthen them in both meaning and activity... and will suffer further... and unnecessarily with their disease. One must decide to 'reframe' this negativity though well thought out self-hypnosis or guided imagery methods that will stir one's imagination and create a visualization of success in dealing with both one's cancer and chemotherapy/immunotherapy regime.
Seeking out a hypnotherapist who can assemble a program to address a patient's particular issues is one way to confront these drives. Understanding the need of the patient and the ability of the doctor/therapist to address those needs is the key to success... but getting started is the essential first step.
One last point... auto suggestive self-destructive drives can be products of a lifetime of negative self-talk that has taken hold of the patient... making success and happiness difficult to obtain. Such drives begin around the age of 5 and continue to grow as the patient entertains these thoughts and feelings as the truth about him or herself. One again 'reframing' a patient's self-image both mentally and physically can make inroads into the patient's state-of-mind... allowing for a better outcome for any and all of his or her life issues... not only in their cancer/oncologic and chemotherapy/immunotherapy discomforts.
Expressive Headache Postures
The 'Expressive Posture' is a posture assuming the position of a mind/body defense against a real or perceived threat. Now most often when I speak of an expressive posture I am referring to a chiropractic set of circumstances that alter one's gait, stance and/or gestures. However in my hypnotic practice I see postural expressions as part of what most hypnotherapists call 'ideomotor' responses to the events of the session as it unfolds in real time... and the memories of such movements as relates to the patient's past traumas and coping mechanisms.
Many of these postures can be observed in the waiting area when a patient feels that he or she is not observed... as well as the patient's approach to the treatment area... and the patient's self-placement upon the couch, table, bench or recliner. Posture is like a fingerprint... it is a consistent reminder of who we are and how others recognize us... even from a great distance. In the treatment room... posture up close and personal... is as telling as any words that are spoken in the hypnotic session.
Why look at posture during the session? Simply because patients will... move... reposition... and exhibit non-nonsensical restless motions when they are struggling to address unconscious issues rising up... that they may 'feel' they are not ready to discuss. In cancer and chemotherapy/immunotherapy situations... the fear of one's mortality is always a large factor in each session... depending upon the month or week the patient may have had prior to their visit with you... and of course with cancer... the reasons are multifactorial.
One can always depend upon the postures and positions that you as a doctor/therapist have come to recognize in each of your patients. In fact these motions contain more truth that the words that are spoken... as a patient's expressive postures do not omit or minimize the meanings as to why they are at your office. In the hypnotic session the use of neurolinguistic programming can be an excellent partner with the interpretation of a patient's posture and positioning. Using the patient's chosen vocabulary in conversation can strike a balance between his or her acceptance of your input and their 'hearing' you with the clarity you are striving for. In a neurolinguistic sense... the doctor or therapist must consider the tone and volume of any treatment based discussion as well as the rhythm of his or her speech... as well as the desired effect that certain words will have upon a posture or position during or after they are spoken.
Looking and appreciating the postural and positional expressions of your client/patient will give you the insight your need to communicate your message... and your patient's acceptance of it. Observing patient's postures and positions may show you the precise time at which a patient is ready to 'hear' you uncritically and with more 'concentration' than other periods of that same session. Postural expressions are habitual and routine for all patients. Each of us have choreographed structural, behavioral and kinesthetic defensive motions. Charting these motions and referring to them on a session by session basis will teach you the how and when of intervening and interpreting what that posture means and why that patient is expressing it.
But what is clear... is that hypnotic 'cancer/oncologic' postures do occur... and that they are real. Some of these postures may hearken back to the past... where other traumas... both real and imagined... were the beginning of a new set of coping postures that express a repetitive and long term effect upon the patient. In such cases a provider might wish to bring to the attention of the patient the formation of these 'new' postures and why they may cropping up again in their ongoing sessions.
Headache and Ideomotor factors...
And so... expressive hypnotic postures are often unconscious and ideomotor in nature... and may be precursors to a postural and positional tension headache... though here we are talking about cancer/oncological distresses. We all know how stressful a such diagnosis can be... as well as how difficult and tedious some cancer treatments may be. All of this 'newness' can create a mind/body set of circumstances that can at times overwhelm a patient... making day to day decisions into a complicated painful, stressful and anxiety ridden process. As most of this is unconscious... self-hypnotic, habitual, and/or repetitive postures may be 'created' to cope with these situations causing structural, behavioral and kinesthetic pain, stress and anxiety over a period of time.
Individuals who could always maintain a good equilibrium relative to the trials of life and living may seem to fall into a 'gray' area when receiving chemotherapy/immunotherapy or radiation treatments. Though no fault of their own they may lose sight of their immediate agendas and goals for the day. Such distress can lead to what are frequently called 'tension' headaches... headaches that seem to rise up from the base of the skull and up through the cranium... that are often expressed as neuromuscular and postural in nature... and are soon relieved after the crisis is over. Keep this in mind when discussing mind/body issues with cancer patients... but also keep in mind that postures expressed in cancer patients can often be associated with ideomotor or unconscious drives that seek to become conscious... and on their way to consciousness... they may be again... expressed posturally and positionally as a tension headache.
Much more on this subject can be seen at... expressive postures.blogspot.com
