It's NOT all in your mind...

by David Servan-Schreiber, author of Healing Without Freud or Prozac
Modern medicine calls it the "placebo effect." This refers to the cultural and relational factors that make someone who's sick feel better when a doctor prescribes treatment, regardless of its biological impact. Nowadays, doctors think they know everything about the placebo effect. They were taught that 30% of sick people treated with placebos show signs of improvement. But they're also taught that this improvement is subjective and temporary - because the illness continues to take its course.

Yet after studying the placebo effect, some scientists wonder whether it may be one of the strongest driving forces in medicine. A study published in Clinical Psychology Review in 1993 concludes that several types of placebos are effective in treating illnesses such as stomach ulcers, angina pectoris and herpes 70% of the time. In addition, rare but famous cases testify to the effectiveness of placebos in reducing cancerous tumors or regenerating the immune cells of AIDS sufferers. The part of our brains known as the hypothalamus directs the distribution of essential hormones and operates the diffuse network of nerves controlling the function of the internal organs. The most intriguing mechanism is that proposed by pharmacologist Candace Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine. She demonstrated that neuropeptides - molecules that help transmit messages among the brain's neurons - affect the behavior of nearly all the body's cells. This means that what we refer to as our mind isn't located just in the brain but throughout the body. It also implies that, driven by the comings and goings of these molecular messengers, the mind constitutes an immense communication network encompassing the functions of the organism.

So what is the placebo effect? Everything we don't know about the capacity of the brain to heal the body. Therein, undoubtedly lies the secret of the shamans and other healers. Their rituals, chants and restorative acts address the most archaic parts of the brain, those that regulate our organism and can participate in its healing ... Scientific medicine has replaced this knowledge with mechanical principles that allow the illness to be cured without speaking to the sufferer's spirit.

Ed. note: As a Reiki practitioner I have personally experienced the healing power of the mind/body/spirit connection. Hopefully, Western medicine will come around.

Black Cocktail

Switters was instantly reminded of something Maestra had said almost twenty years before: "All depression has its roots in self-pity and all self-pity is rooted in people taking themselves too seriously."

At the time Switters had disputed her assertion. Even at seventeen, he was aware that depression could have chemical causes.

"The key word here is roots," Maestra countered. "The roots of depression. For most people, self-awareness and self-pity blossom simultaneously in early adolescence. It's about that time that we start viewing the world as something other than a whoop-de-doo playground, we start to experience personally how threatening it can be, how cruel and unjust. At the very moment when we become, for the first time, both introspective and socially conscientious, we receive the bad news that the world, by and large, doesn't give a rat's ass. Even an old tomato like me can recall how painful, scary, and disillusioning that realization was. So, there's a tendency, then, to slip into rage and self-pity, which, if indulged, can fester into bouts of depression."

"Yeah, but, Maestra---"

"Don't interrupt. Now, unless someone stronger and wiser -- a friend, a parent, a novelist, filmmaker, teacher, or musician -- can josh us out of it, can elevate us and show us how petty and pompous and monumentally useless it is to take ourselves so seriously, then depression can become a habit, which, in turn, can produce a neurological imprint. Are you with me? Gradually, our brain chemistry becomes conditioned to react to negative stimuli in a particular, predictable way. One thing'll go wrong and it'll automatically switch on its blender and mix us that black cocktail, the ol' doomsday daiquiri, and before we know it, we're soused to the gills from the inside out. Once depression has become electrochemically integrated, it can be extremely difficult to philosophically or psychologically override it; by then it's playing by physical rules, a whole different ball game. That's why, Switters my dearest, every time you've shown signs of feeling sorry for yourself,I've played my blues records really loud or read to you from The Horse's Mouth. And that's why when you've exhibited the slightest tendency toward self-importance, I've reminded you that you and me-- you and I: excuse me-- may be every bit as important as the President or the pope or the biggest prime-time icon in Hollywood, but that none of us is much more than a pimple on the ass-end of creation, so let's not get carried away with ourselves. Preventive medicine, boy. It's preventive medicine."

"But what about self-esteem?"

"Heh! Self-esteem is for sissies. Accept that you're a pimple and try to keep a lively sense of humor about it. That way lies grace-- and maybe even glory."

from Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins... thought provoking, no?

Okay, This is morbid... but fascinating.

It’s 75 metres (245 ft) down from the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge to the water below. That drop will kill most people (after a fall of about 4 seconds, a jumper would hit the water at approximately 140 km/h (87 mph) – lethal in most cases. Those surviving the actual fall usually succumb to hypothermia, induced by the cold (8°C/47°F) water of the Bay.) And that’s exactly what it did to over 1,200 people who jumped off the bridge since its opening in 1937. Over the decades, 26 people are known to have survived the fall and the cold water.

San Francisco’s most famous landmark, the world’s longest suspension bridge at its opening, has earned the sad distinction of being the world’s most popular suicide spot (others include Aokigahara, the “Sea of Trees” at the foot of Mount Fuji [Japan], Niagara Falls [US/Can], Beachy Head and Clifton Bridge [both in England]).

The number of jumpers from the bridge, spanning the over 2 km (6,700 ft) wide strait at the entrance of San Francisco Bay, has varied greatly throughout the years, never more than around 10 until 1960 (with the exception of the 20 of 1948), then rising dramatically to peak at 40 in 1977 and dropping again to a low of less than 10 in 1990.

In 2004, 24 people jumped off the Bridge, spiking to 38 in 2007 – an increase many blamed on The Bridge, a documentary about the place’s fatal attraction. In 2008, authorities voted to install a ’safety net’ six metres below the Bridge (although how this should prevent people from jumping from the net is a question that should definitely be covered by the study to be conducted on the net’s impact).

This cartogram details the exact locations of the suicides, corresponding them with the 128 light poles that line the Bridge (east to west, even ones on the oceanside, uneven ones on the bayside). For obvious reasons, the areas closest to the edges of the Bridge are less popular (most suicides aim for maximum effect, i.e. longest way down). Remarkably, the bayside is a lot more popular than the oceanside. The hotspot is light pole 69 with – if I counted correctly – 56 recorded suicides.

* See a larger version of the map here. Thanks to my Captain for the link.

Perfectionism and the Little Hater

So I've written about the evils of perfectionism (something I sadly know a LOT about;) but I saw this and thought of you and hope that it helps you identify (and choke) YOUR Little Hater...

Don't Ask Why, Ask How

Some therapists are suggesting a new approach to depression. Avoid dark thoughts and temporary distractions; neither confronts or prevents the feelings. Instead, each time the physical symptoms and dark thoughts return, adopt an anthropological approach to exploring the workings of body and mind.

The instructions are unbelievably simple. Sit on the edge of a chair with your back straight and your hands resting on your thighs. Fix your attention on the physical sensations of your body and on finding an image or words that best describe the nature of those feelings. If thoughts come into your mind unbidden, observe them and let them fade. Then look for the next thought or image that follows, but don't judge it as 'good' or 'bad.' Bring your attention back to your breathing and observe what new flow of thoughts is taking the place of the last. Don't worry about why you feel what you feel or why you think what you think; concentrate purely on HOW.

'How' instead of 'why' is so simple, yet so important. If you're unconvinced, imagine a doctor who asks, "Why did you put on 10 pounds?" and one who says, "How are you feeling about your body?" It's the difference between feeling judged and feeling heard. That little word 'how' is a gesture that opens the door to deeper understanding. Professor John Teasdale of Cambridge University demonstrated that it was possible to reduce relapses for patients with depression by more than 50% with meditation, a success rate comparable to that of antidepressant medication. We can all benefit from a finer understanding of ourselves and others. All we have to do is avoid the intimidating 'why?' and offer our trust to the kinder 'how?'

paraphrased from the article by David Servan-Schreiber in Ode Magazine.