The Mind-Body Connection

Ten months ago, I wrote about Dr Sarno here, about physical pain being a smokescreen that masks emotional issues; confront the emotional issue and the physical pain vanishes.

 

I have two recent examples of this.  I attended an exercise class and the instructor wasn't the usual one.  I didn't like the class and left shortly after it began.  Later that day I felt pain in my side and thought it might be from the unpleasant exercises the instructor had led.  I felt the pain for a week or two.  At some point I looked up sciatica online and thought that what I felt might be sciatica.  It did not stop me from doing my usual activities but I felt it.  When I mentioned sciatica to someone, he said, oh you know what Dr. Sarno thinks about that ... That set me thinking.

 

A week ago, I woke up Shabbos morning feeling dizzy, and that was before I even got out of bed.  No fever, just a disturbing feeling of dizziness.  Not a the room is spinning kind of feeling; I'm not sure how to describe it.  Anyway, I stayed home all day.  The next day I still felt it somewhat but decided to go about my day as usual, despite it.  By Monday it was mostly gone.

 

It occurred to me that in both cases there was something emotionally perturbing to me that I could link to the onset of the symptom.  I have no way of proving whether the symptoms would have gone away regardless, but I can't help but wonder whether consciously confronting the emotional disturbance is what made the physical symptoms go away.

Pain and What It is Telling Us

Dr. Oliver Sacks tells a remarkable story of seeing a patient who had headaches every Sunday.  From his description of the symptoms, the diagnosis was migraines.  Dr. Sacks prescribed medication for him to take as soon as he felt the onset of symptoms.

A week later, the patient called, all excited, to tell him that the medicine worked and he had no headache.

A week later, he called the patient to hear how he was doing.  Interestingly, the patient said the medicine worked but now he was bored.  "Every Sunday for the previous fifteen years had been devoted to migraines, his family would come, he was the center of attention, and now he missed all of that."

A week later, he got an emergency phone call from the man's sister about her brother having a severe asthma attack.  When he visited his patient, the man told him that he had had asthma attacks as a child but that they had been "replaced" by migraines.

When the doctor suggested giving him something for the asthma, the man wisely said, "No, I'll just get something else.  Do you think I need to be ill on Sundays?"

The doctor and patient spent two months discussing this and as they did, the man's migraines became fewer and fewer and disappeared.

This is a perfect illustration of Dr. Sarno's approach to a lot of pain symptoms.  Look him up online and you'll see his books and what people have to say about him.  His approach is that in the overwhelming majority of cases, "back pain is a symptom created by the unconscious mind as a distraction to aid in the repression of strong unconscious emotional issues." That means, the physical pain serves an emotional need.  If you confront the emotional need directly, the physical pain vanishes.  This works with other pain too like shoulder pain, etc. It should be noted that Dr. Sarno will physically examine a patient to determine that there is no real, physical problem.

It should be noted that last I heard, there is a R' Elya Katz in Boro Park who presents Dr. Sarno's approach for free, 718-232-2741, at certain times.

Mind Over Heart

 

I recently completed a marathon book-reading.  I had a book out of the library that was due which I could not renew because it had a hold placed on it.  It's a book that I had out once before and did not read and could not renew and I didn't want to take it out a third time.  Instead, I started reading it and it had me engrossed for a few days.  It was a Holocaust memoir called The Seamstress.

Shortly after I finished it, I read yet another article about OCD in a frum magazine. This time, it was from the perspective of a woman with OCD.  She describes in excrutiating detail an insane day in her life.  I use insane literally.  Her behavior is that of a crazy person.

Coming right after the Holocaust book, the contrast between self-imposed, demented suffering and externally-inflicted anti-Semitic suffering was vast.  I will admit that the article elicited emotions from me that are probably not what the author and publisher had in mind.  I am sure the article was meant to evoke tremendous compassion on the sufferer, and yet, I felt outraged  that someone could bring such suffering upon themselves.

Of course that was followed by thoughts like - that's not nice, I'm not understanding that she is trapped, that she is miserable, that she deserves more compassion because she brought this upon herself, not less.  

And of course, those writing about mental health these days insist that these are illnesses just like physical illnesses and just as we do not choose to have tumors, we do not choose to suffer from mental illness.  The problem is, I am not convinced.

Coming on the heels of the Holocaust book in which the author was 44 pounds by war's end, doesn't help make me sympathetic to anorexic people either.  Self-imposed starvation with all the food around us?! But then again, I think, these are psychological problems and those enmeshed in unhealthy thinking don't think, "I will ruin my life by having these unhealthy thoughts."

And yet, the self-absorption at the root of so many of these problems is a modern-day luxury.  If the woman of the OCD article had to struggle to survive, had to use her wits to get food and remain alive, avoid beatings and various threats to her continued existence, she would not be fixated on imaginary threats to her well-being.

I came across a post online by a man who refers to his "selfish OCD" who writes:
OCD is a very selfish disorder, and I was always thinking about myself. It was all about me and my obsessions and the compulsive checking I needed to do to make myself feel better. My wife was an outgoing, caring, loving person with a great personality but my OCD was changing all that. We didn’t go out anymore because of all my obsessions, and my wife wasn’t a happy and laughing person anymore. Instead she was crying every day.
 

I was very selfish, and I was using her all the time for compulsive reassurance, trying to use her to get rid of my obsessions or to confirm that everything was fine and that I hadn’t done anything wrong or bad. I would ask her for reassurance over and over again and would push her so far as to make her put her hand on the Bible and swear that she was telling the truth. While I was seeking reassurance from her it was all about me. I didn’t care how she felt; I only wanted to get rid of the obsession. After she gave me the reassurance that I needed and everything was fine again, I would feel guilty about putting her under so much stress, but only for a short time. Soon I was doubting again and needed to ask her for reassurance again, and then it was all about me again, all about my obsessions and feelings. I didn’t care how she was feeling as long as I felt better.

 
... Even when my wife was sick it was all about my obsessive thoughts. I didn’t think about how my wife was feeling ...  The doctor told her that she had an infection in one of her glands and that she needed to have an operation. When my wife told me, I immediately started my checking methods. I had to be sure I hadn’t done something wrong that could have caused my wife to get ill. (I would do these same checking methods when I hear anyone I know is in the hospital. I need to make sure they are fine, and then I need to make sure that I am not responsible for making them ill.) Instead of worrying about how much pain my wife must have been in and how she must have felt about the operation, I was busy with my obsessive compulsive thoughts. 

Human beings possess the quality of mo'ach shalit al halev--"the mind rules the heart." Unlike animals, who act on instinct, a person is capable of achieving full control over his thoughts and moods.  This fundamental principle needs to be taught very early on in life.  It requires constant reminders and is often not easy to act upon, but knowing that this is what constitutes our humanity and that we can control our emotions is step one.  It is often said, happiness is a choice, not a condition.  Likewise, unhappiness, anger, sad feelings are a choice.  We can and must exercise hesech ha'daas - diverting our minds from the unhealthy thoughts that occur to us.  It is our choice, and bechira is what being a human being is about.

The Impact of Stress on Our Health

More than half of all cases of heart disease are not related to the common risk factors of high cholesterol, smoking, or inactivity. (Integration of Physiology and Behavioral Scienc)

In a Mayo Clinic study of people with heart disease, emotional stress was the strongest single predictor of further problems, such as heart attack or cardiac arrest (Mayo Clinic Proceedings)

Three separate studies have shown that stress is more closely related to heart disease and to cancer than smoking is. (British Journal of Medical Psychology)

A study conducted at Harvard showed that men who experience elevated chronic anxiety are six times more likely than contented men to die from a sudden heart attack. (Circulation)

***
Living with the principles of Shaar Ha'Bitachon is not only a spiritual accomplishment; it has a tremendous effect on our physical health.

In R' Bachya ibn Pekuda's Chovos Ha'Levavos, shaar ha'bitachon, he writes:

If we knew we had a friend who:

1) never ceases worrying about us

2) is able to fulfill our wishes

3) knows our exact needs and what is good for us

4) controls all the people and powers in the world and does not allow any of them to harm or benefit us without his consent

5) is overflowing with kindness and compassion even if we are undeserving

we would totally relax and stop worrying about ANYTHING.

Hashem is merciful and gracious; He neither slumbers nor sleeps, He is your Father, He made you, Hashem is good to all and His mercy is on all His creations etc.