Can Fear Terrorize Your Health?
By John D. Clague, Christian Science Committee on Publication for Oregon.
“…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror…”
Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke these words during his first inaugural address at a time this country was in the depths of the Great Depression. Powerful words, and perhaps outlandish to those living in severe economic hardship. Yet, they showed Roosevelt knew what needed to be addressed. Could this also be applied to our health?
Fear is often considered a survival mechanism. It can cause us to react quickly to avoid danger.
But one kind of fear is not so helpful. It’s subtle and ongoing, and doesn’t impel us to do anything. But it does influence our lives, if we let it.
Many people experience this kind of fear, or anxiety. Worry about finances, what people think, or even the unknown.
Another common worry is about health, even when there’s no evidence that something is wrong. Why does this happen? Especially about health?
Consider this: Jessie Gruman, PhD, executive director and president of the Center for Advancement of Health says that fear sells. [M]ass media fly on news — meaning information has to be tarted up to be used. This plants the seeds of fear …
Theologian and health writer, Mary Baker Eddy, observed how the media spreads fear about health in the early 20th Century:
Ironically, long term unmitigated anxiety about health is not healthy. Dr. Herbert Benson points out that ongoing health anxiety has “… severe physical repercussions.” And Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at the New York University Medical School, elaborates that such fear makes us ”…more prone to heart disease, cancer and stroke, our greatest killers.”
So it would seem that fear brings on the very thing that is feared. What’s the answer? Drugs that lull fear?
I’m wondering if there isn’t a better way to live our lives–without the fear that makes us susceptible to the very thing we are afraid of, and without drugs to chemically suppress this fear.
Richard Schiffman may have hit on the answer when he talks about the benefits of prayer. He writes “[w]hat science can tell us is that people who pray and meditate tend to be statistically more healthy and live longer than those who do not. Benson also concludes “According to medical research, faith in God is good for us,…For many reasons, religious activity and churchgoing is also healthy.”
Could it be that prayer allays our fears because we’re actually connecting with a higher Being? Perhaps through prayer we come to understand that our lives are not out of our control. Perhaps through prayer we are actually active participants in controlling our lives, including our health.
While I can’t speak for others, I find that by starting with the fact that God is good I see my natural state as one of harmony and health. Instead of fear bringing unhealthy stuff into my life, having God’s goodness in focus brings good health into my experience.
Nothing to fear but fear itself? It may sound simplistic, but the link between fear and diminished physical health is becoming more widely accepted. Anxiety and fear can make us sick, without an underlying physical cause.
Maybe we shouldn’t fear that, either.
originally published on OregonLive, My Oregon
What we believe is what we get
By John D. Clague, Christian Science Committee on Publication for Oregon
Our culture’s relationship with food seems to be as complex as its relationship with body. And how they converge is like a love/hate relationship. Dissatisfaction with how our bodies look, what they weigh, our body mass index… all seem to occupy much of public thought. Advertising uses this obsession to peddle clothes, makeup, drugs, and diet schemes.
The public discussion about the struggle to be healthy centers on how we can change our bodies, and food often plays a role in this. Dieting, pre-portioned meals, along with workouts at the gym, are some of the less exotic versions of getting the “new you.” If you lean towards extremes then you might opt for gastric bypass or stomach stapling; maybe even steroids.
But, there’s more to it. Consider these three examples.
Hotel maids don’t exercise. That’s what Ellen Langer learned when she asked a group of them about this in a research project. After an initial set of measurements, Langer told half the group that what they did for a profession was a lot of exercise. After a month the group receiving no information about how hard they work exhibited no change from the initial measurements. The informed group, however, showed marked changes in their numbers, the kind that would normally be the result of exercise.
Hmmmm. Perhaps I should start thinking of sitting at the computer as a lot of hard work!
Then there’s Kevin Richardson, a prominent fitness trainer in New York, who wrote an interesting paper. He tells of a young man who made remarkable muscle gains by the use of steroids that were fake, unbeknownst to him.
And researchers at Yale looked at a creative twist with milkshakes (one of my favorites!). Two groups were given exactly the same milkshake. One group was told that it was a healthy low calorie shake, and the other group was told that it was off the charts with fat and calories. In actuality, the shakes were in between the two extremes.
Those who thought they were getting the low calorie shake showed no change in the production of a hormone that tells you you’re hungry. Those who thought they got the “indulgent” shake, however, showed a sharp decrease in its production, experiencing a reduced craving for food.
Here’s what I take from these experiments. What we believe is what we get. How we think about food, exercise, or even steroids determines how our bodies respond.
Contemporary researchers are just scratching the surface on the notion that our thoughts affect our bodies. Yet, this is not a new discovery. In the 19th century, when food was thought to have dramatic influences of a different kind on one’s health, medical researcher and spiritual healer Mary Baker Eddy concluded that:
“If mortals think that food disturbs the harmonious functions of mind and body, either the food or this thought must be dispensed with, for the penalty is coupled with the belief.”
I’m wondering if thought can determine our food/weight relationship without the trickery and deception of these experiments. Can we have a healthier body based on an understanding of the mind /body relationship that’s straightforward?
My choice is to recognize that it’s more my thought about the food, than the food itself, that affects me. I’m not saying its always easy to change your thoughts, but when you do, the effects can be real and permanent.
First published in My Oregon on OregonLive.com
It’s all about relationships
By John D. Clague, Christian Science Committee on Publication for Oregon
That’s the “elevator” training I often gave to my staff when I was a manager. It’s a foundational principle they needed to understand because relationships bring results. If they didn’t understand and apply this principle they weren’t going to be successful.
Building relationships isn’t horse trading or politics.
It’s establishing a rapport that engenders understanding, trust, compassion, and a conviction that you care for the other person. It’s being willing to help them in their time of need, and knowing that others will help you too.
History is rife with examples of businesses and professions not understanding how important relationships are. And history is full of examples where it’s inherent in an organization’s culture.
Research is now finding that “relationships” are at the core of a more complex dynamic that has a significant impact on health. These are called “therapeutic relationships” and they directly affect the effectiveness of drugs.
The impact of the therapeutic relationship on drug efficacy didn’t surface until the last few years. It had long been assumed that drugs were effective for two basic reasons. Either the chemicals in the drug caused a physiological change, or the patient was “tricked” into thinking he was better, though all other clinical indications said he wasn’t.
Even as far back as the nineteenth century, medical research by Mary Baker Eddy on homeopathy led her to the conclusion that the homeopathic attenuations were acting as placebos rather than having a bonafide pharmaceutical effect on her patients.
Present day researchers such as Irving Kirsch, Associate Director of the Placebo Studies Program at the Harvard Medical School, are finding that there is a third very potent reason drugs work. The recipient’s relationship with the person caring for them, or administering the drug, is therapeutic in and of itself. It doesn’t matter which drug they are given, whether a placebo or a bonafide pharmaceutical. Randomized clinical trials studying placebos are showing this to be true.
“The most important ingredient in any placebo is the doctor’s bedside manner…”, so says Steve Silberman, a renowned award-winning science writer. 1 [T]he care and attention of clinicians… have been found in many…studies to be crucial for eliciting placebo effects. 2
Getting to the root of how the placebo works is adding dimension to our understanding of the mind-body relationship. I suspect that eventually, as we continue to probe deeper, the research will lead to a more substantive “therapeutic relationship”.
Eddy’s research into homeopathy eventually led her to similar conclusions. In her own words, “The author’s medical researches and experiments had prepared her thought for the metaphysics of Christian Science.” 3
I wonder if we could say that she discovered the health benefits of a completely different kind therapeutic relationship — one with a higher source?
In my own experience I have found that nurturing a relationship with a spiritual source brings goodness and health into my life. And I’ve found the best way for me to care for and develop this relationship is through prayer. It skips the placebo altogether.
Research has shown that those who pray daily and nurture their therapeutic relationship with the divine, are healthier and live longer.4
Yes, it’s all about relationships.
First published on OregonLive.com
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1. “Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.” Wired, August 24, 2009]
2. Blog post, December 22, 2010. (http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/)
3. Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 152
4. Richard Schiffman, Huffington Post, January 18, 2012)
Too much of the “right thing” could be the wrong thing.
It’s hard to imagine that administering routine medical tests would have negative consequences, especially when the test in and of itself is completely harmless. Checking to make sure there aren’t problems lurking in our bodies makes perfect sense. At least until the consequences of doing so are carefully examined.
Here’s what’s happening: a lowering of the threshold of indicators when tests are called for. In fact, some tests are being administered at the onset of some general risk factors that everyone will experience at some point in their life, such as their age.
Examining this issue carefully in her book Overtreated, Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer, Shannon Brownlee points out that:
Today, the number of tests has exploded, and doctors no longer just treat the sick but instead go looking for disease among the well. (p. 200)
Why? Looking for disease so you can catch it before it becomes a big problem. At least that’s the argument. But it’s not the end of the story.
The increase in testing has caused another phenomenon. In his Op-Ed piece in the L.A. Times (May 6, 2011) Dr. H. Gilbert Welch argues that, not only testing but “treatment thresholds are too low.” He goes on:
We look harder for things to be wrong. We test more often, we are more likely to test people who have no symptoms, and we have changed the rules about what degree of abnormality constitutes disease.
Diagnostic thresholds that are set too low lead in turn to a bigger problem: treatment thresholds that are set too low.
This means we are treating as disease conditions which we used to consider normal. This triggers a whole host of problems for our medical system which are now coming to light. But more importantly, Brownlee points out:
…many other tests, which have their place if a patient has symptoms, have had the perverse effect of benefiting only a small minority when they are given routinely to apparently healthy people in the name of prevention — while exposing the majority to invasive, often dangerous treatment they don’t necessarily need. (p. 200)
Even the humorous comment, “Now I can do all the things I did before, but with the assurance that I am doing them while medicated,” is offset by the serious claim that health is not benefited by over treatment.
Simply put by Welch, “low thresholds have a way of leading to treatments that are worse than the disease.”
These revelations might well be disconcerting to those relying on multiple medical tests for reassurance that they are healthy. There is an alternative worth considering.
Richard Schiffman writes in the Huffington Post (January 18, 2012) that …
“regular prayer and meditation has been shown in numerous scientific studies to be an important factor in living longer and staying healthy.” Schiffman discusses the underlying research and surveys that support this conclusion.
I’ve found that to be true. Regular prayer, along with well balanced living, has been invaluable in maintaining my health without a host of low-threshold medical tests. Mary Baker Eddy figured this out over 140 years ago and wrote about it in her book Science and Health. I daily use prayer and her system of health maintenance.
The test that I’ve found to be essential is an examination of my consciousness. I look to see what unhealthy attitudes are lurking there, and treat those–with dismissal. There are no negative side effects from finding and eliminating unhealthy thoughts. This process doesn’t result in a cure worse than the disease.
This form of health care can effectively achieve and maintain health. That’s been my experience for many years.
Yes, there is danger in lowering the threshold for medical tests and treatment. But I’ve yet to find that there can be too much prayer and reflection as long as it leads to real change in my thinking and my life.
Violence and health – challenging the status quo
We often talk about health in terms of treating disease or not getting sick. But there are other factors that can negatively affect one’s health that aren’t so obvious, such as violence. This is a major public health issue that is monitored by the Center for Disease Control.
Take for instance young people. The CDC reports that:
“Youth violence results in considerable physical, emotional, social, and economic consequences. Although rates of youth homicide have declined substantially during recent years, much work remains in reducing this public health burden. Homicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10–24 years in the United States. Violence is also a major cause of nonfatal injuries among youth. In 2009, a total of 650,843 young people aged 10–24 years were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries sustained from assaults.”
Children are not the only vulnerable group, however. Those in intimate relationships are another group that suffer at the hands of others in significant numbers. The CDC goes on:
“On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States, according to new findings released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men. Those numbers only tell part of the story – more than 1 million women are raped in a year, and over 6 million women and men are victims of stalking. These findings emphasize that sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence are major public health problems in the United States.”
At what point does a neighborhood begin to acquiesce to violence? When does apathy, fear, or futility cause us to accept crime as inevitable? On the other hand, what galvanizes individuals, neighbors, or community members to protest against rising violence and decay?
Well-intentioned efforts such as installing home security systems and taking personal safety training can make people feel safer. But what turns the tide for a whole community? It has to come from a mental protest against violence in our midst, followed by effective action. Even before my retirement from a law enforcement career, prayer has been the catalyst that strengthens my resolve to challenge a violent status quo. What could the heartfelt prayers of many accomplish? Prayer provides a resolve that can be a tipping point toward safety and well-being for every member of our community, especially the more vulnerable and least represented. This can bring measurable improvement to community health. It might include beefing up law enforcement and improving public policy, or providing youth centers and safe, affordable childcare.
As a Captain in the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, I often prayed about my work. One day a wanted suspect, who was known to be violent and have firearms, was located in a house where children were also living. All the ingredients for a bad situation were in place. I needed to be there when he was taken into custody. Complicating the situation, I also needed to be in church in two hours to conduct a church service. Because SWAT events are volatile and unpredictable, I had some heavy-duty praying to do.
While driving to the suspect’s location, I prayed that God’s wisdom and care were present with the Team AND with the suspect. I prayed to know that I was led by God to the position I was in with these tremendous responsibilities, both in law enforcement and church, because Spirit wanted me there, to serve my community in both capacities. I was put there to give. I prayed to be willing to receive divine direction and control, to listen and follow God’s direction guidance even if I was tempted to feel stressed or unable to fulfill my responsibilities.
I did not allow myself to take in anything but God’s calm and loving presence. As we approached the location, we rounded a curve in a rural road. Under standard procedures, we would quickly exit our vehicles, take cover, and assault the building with noise from explosive diversionary devices and shouting. But instead, sitting on the split rail fence enjoying the sunshine, was our suspect. With no resistance, he allowed himself to be taken into custody.
You can imagine my heartfelt gratitude for God’s grace and control. I couldn’t have planned this any better. I feel that God’s timing and wisdom guided us, allowing this to unfold the way it did. And, yes, I was at my post in church that night, continuing to give in God’s appointed way.
So, to renew my question, could many prayers specifically for safety make this kind of outcome more common and even prevent what causes violence? I believe it is time we address violence in a new, more universal and effective way. And prayer is my starting point.
