The Cancer Directory
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• touch therapies such as massage, aromatherapy, osteopathy, craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure and reflexology
• energy therapies such as acupuncture, reiki healing, spiritual healing and Johrei
• natural remedies such as herbal medicines, including European, Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic herbs, and homoeopathic remedies
• mind – body symptom control through hypnotherapy, visualization, relaxation, guided imagery and affirmation
• nutritional and immune support.
4. Psychological approaches
The psychological approach to cancer is covered in Chapter 2 and includes:
• providing sympathetic counselling to help in the recovery from the shock and trauma of diagnosis and re-diagnosis, and in facing the pain and loss
• ongoing support to rise to the challenge of the illness and its treatment
• using psychological approaches to increase the chances of recovery through:
5. Spiritual help
Spiritual help is needed by those facing a life-threatening illness as, almost immediately, the really big questions of the meaning of life and death are raised. The role of spiritual advisors as part of the support network is written about towards the end of this chapter. Another type of spiritual help is spiritual healing, included in Chapters 7 and 8. The broader aspects of the role of our spiritual health in long-term recovery are discussed in Chapter 9. Spiritual help is available from:
• spiritual advisors or religious guides, who help you to examine your beliefs and give spiritual support
• spiritual healers, who can help to provide energy support, spiritual uplift, relief of pain and symptoms and, sometimes, physical healing of disease
• transpersonal counsellors, psychosynthesis counsellors and Health Creation Mentors who can all help you to focus on creating spiritual health and fulfilment.
6. Self-help approaches
Self-help approaches, described in Chapters 7 and 8, can help you achieve the best outcomes from treatment and symptom control. They can also contribute to long-term health creation, as discussed in Chapter 9.
Self-help techniques to prepare for treatment and reduce symptoms include:
• relaxation, visualization, breathing techniques, affirmations and self-hypnosis.
Self-help techniques for long-term health creation include:
• healthy eating
• regular exercise, including aerobic exercise such as swimming, walking, running, a gym workout, dancing or tennis, as well as the more holistic types of exercise such as yoga, tai chi or chi gong
• spiritual practices such as meditation.
7. Healthy lifestyle reorientation
Healthy lifestyle reorientation, covered in Chapter 9, includes the key areas for creating long-term sustainable health, such as:
• stress reduction – both external stress and self-stressing tendencies
• establishing the correct work/play balance
• establishing healthy, loving relationships
• experiencing a sense of belonging
• becoming fulfilled and able to express oneself creatively
• feeling well nourished at all levels of the body, mind and spirit
• ensuring that your environment is healthy and free from negative influences.
Timing Is All: The Four Phases of Recovery
The healing journey from here, diagnosis, to there, recovery and a healthy, fresh new lifestyle, is, in the words of Penny Brohn, co-founder of the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, ‘a process and not an event!’
How dearly we all wish that there were a quick way to get rid of the uncomfortable feelings and symptoms of illness, get through our treatments, and back into a secure ‘normal’ life. But, unfortunately, the treatment and healing process does take time, and there are challenges associated with each step of the treatment and healing process. It is therefore important that you get the big picture, understand what you will have to go through, pace yourself appropriately and map out which aspects of the integrated approach will be right for which stage of the healing journey.
The main tendency is for everyone affected by cancer to get into a terrible panicky rush. The medical profession often sets the hurried pace, making it appear imperative that you receive treatment within hours or days of diagnosis. This is very unhelpful as it leaves you with no time to recover from the initial shock, to prepare for treatment and, most important of all, to take the necessary time to consider the treatment options on offer (while getting your head around the short-and possible long-term side-effects).
As for integrated approaches, people with cancer often confuse the more short-term use of supportive complementary help and symptom control with the longer-term health creation measures necessary for a sustainable improvement in health and, hopefully, prognosis. The worst pitfall would be to rush into making major life changes while in the middle of treatment!
Sometimes, having got the message that illness can follow long periods of stress or unhappiness, people become very motivated to change, but run into problems when they try to make big changes when they are weak and vulnerable. If illness has made you realize that you need to change your job, confront difficulties in your relationships or move house, do wait until you are well and physically strong enough, through your treatment and convalescence, before making such big life changes.
To help you identify the process of recovery, it is wise to see it in four distinct phases:
Phase 1 Getting through diagnosis and treatment positively
Phase 2 Dealing creatively with the problems of illness
Phase 3 Health revival: the state shift to get the body and mind strong again
Phase 4 Life revival: getting into a healthy, happy and fulfilling lifestyle.
Phase 1 Getting through diagnosis and treatment positively
• Take the time to go through your reactions to the diagnosis
• Set up your support network
• Make appropriate adjustments to your working and social commitments
• Obtain full and clear information on all of your treatment options
• Make a truly informed decision regarding treatment
• Prepare well for treatment psychologically, physically and practically
• Convalesce properly from treatment.
Phase 2 Dealing creatively with the problems of illness
It may be that the cancer itself, or the treatments you receive for it, creates some residual health problems or troublesome symptoms. Often, creative solutions are available for these problems from complementary and mind – body medicine. There are also specialized support organizations that can provide individually tailored help for specific cancers and the problems or disabilities associated with such cancers or their treatment so, in this phase, attention is given to:
• symptom control with natural medicines
• the mind – body approach to symptom relief
• complementary therapies for symptom relief
• complementary therapies for the side-effects of treatment
• help with specific cancers
• help with specific disabilities
• help with specific cancer-related issues.
Phase 3 Health revival: the state shift to get the body and mind strong again
This starts with good old-fashioned convalescence after illness and treatment – a sadly forgotten concept in the modern lifestyle! Often, people do not even stop work for their treatment, let alone take the time to recover properly. Yet, this phase is absolutely essential for the overall recovery process as cancer treatments are usually extremely taxing on the body and its resources. An intensive detox and health-revival period is needed to compensate for this.
But even more important for overall recovery is the need to change the underlying state and chemistry of the body and mind, so that it is no longer a hospitable place for a recurrence of cancer.
Creating a state shift in the health of the body and mind involves changing from being:
• low energy
• poorly oxygenated, unfit with sluggish circulation
• poorly nourished
• acidic
• under par or damaged in terms of immune function
• full of excess sugar, toxins and fat
• stressed, fearful and anxious
to being:
• high energy
• well oxygenated
• lean and well nourished
• fresh
• alkaline
• fit and supple
• calm, happy and positive.
To achieve this state shift, you need to focus on:
• excellent nutrition
• a low-acid diet
• detoxification of the body
• re-energization of the body
• physical fitness, stretching and oxygenation
• healthy breathing patterns
• relaxation and rest
• immune stimulation
• freeing the body and mind from the grip of fear, stress and tension.
Phase 4 Life renewal: getting into a healthy, happy and fulfilling lifestyle
In Chapter 9 you will find that the most important determinant of long-term health and survival is the state of our spirit. This means having a strong will to live, a clear purpose in living and a joyful spirit, with genuine sources of pleasure, personal fulfilment and spiritual uplift.
So, in this phase of the recovery process, we are doing the ‘earthworks’ to help bring ourselves fully alive into a lifestyle that totally expresses, inspires and energizes us.
This involves:
• changing your priorities in life to focus on that which is really important to you
• removing any destructive influences from your life
• replacing that which drains you with that which nourishes you
• taking time to enjoy yourself
• putting yourself first
• learning how to nurture yourself properly
• reconnecting with that which gives you true joy and excitement.
The Importance of You: Letting Go of the Medical Model
Most of us brought up in the developed countries are hard-wired into the medical model. This has taught us that, when we are ill, the doctor is in charge. He or she has all the knowledge and expertise, and we must do as we’re told and be good, compliant patients.
There may well be times in your recovery process where you will need to put your complete trust in your doctors, and their expert knowledge and skills. However, the medical profession is far from having the answer to cancer, and it is likely that your contribution to your recovery process will make as much of a difference, if not more, than the cancer medicine you are taking.
It is very hard to hear and believe this when you are first diagnosed with cancer, as we all believe that there is a great big medical safety net underneath us that will catch us if we fall. But, sadly, this is often not the case with cancer and, to make matters worse, doctors often (understandably) oversell the potency of cancer medicines. While it is important to empower the medicines and treatments that we are having, it is not advisable to be lulled into a false sense of security when doctors say you are all clear after cancer treatment.
Indeed, doctors may well have succeeded in removing all detectable cancer from the body, but what medical cancer treatment has not done is changed the underlying conditions in the body in which the cancer developed in the first place. In fact, medical treatments will have made the body more toxic and weakened the immune system. Moreover, it is not possible to detect the microdeposits of cancer that may cause recurrences in the future. So, as uncomfortable as it may be, it is important to wake up early to the potential threat of recurrence, and become fully active in your own defence from the time of the first diagnosis of a primary cancer, rather than waiting until a second or third recurrence before taking action.
Cancer is a lifestyle disease in which the main causes are poor nutrition and toxicity in the body due to chemicals, radiation, viruses, alcohol, smoking and lack of exercise. It is possible to revive your body’s ability to detect and heal cancer but, to do this, you must let go of your dependency on the medical model and belief that cancer medicine alone will cure you. Put yourself firmly in the driving seat and in control as the most important member of your integrated medical team.
This will mean from day one addressing the really big nitty-gritty issues of whether or not you really do have a genuine reason for living and whether you are therefore sufficiently motivated to put in the effort required for your recovery.
If you find that your will to live is shaky for any reason – perhaps because of loneliness, heartbreak, disappointment, grief or frustration – take heart. It is possible to obtain good-quality therapeutic help to revive the state of your spirit and will to live. The next chapter tells you how to find this sort of help, and how to make sure that you are primed in exactly the right frame of mind to maximize your chances of survival.
CHAPTER 2 The psychological foundation for health
Scientific research has now established beyond doubt that the mind – body connection is one of the most powerful elements in the conquering of disease in the body. But this knowledge is scarcely applied in the orthodox approach to health, and far from fully applied in many alternative models. This chapter sets out the most up-to-date thinking in this field, and outlines the steps you can take to get yourself into the best possible state of mind to facilitate your recovery.
When you are given a diagnosis of cancer, you have two main problems: first, of course, there is the physical illness itself; and second, there is the terrible emotional turmoil you are thrown into by the diagnosis, along with all the fear and upset that it creates in you and those close to you. Many people with cancer have said that their physical problem has been manageable, but that it is their peace of mind that has been completely shattered. Your emotional needs and state of mind are just as important as your medical treatment, and it is vital that you receive the support and encouragement that you need. It is also important for you to identify and change the negative beliefs you have about cancer, so that you don’t risk buying into these beliefs and giving up before you even start.
Facing the Demons
You are up against three things straightaway. The first is your own negative beliefs about cancer. You may have heard upsetting stories, or have a view of cancer that is entirely based on the collective fear we all have about cancer in our Western society. Second, you have to face the reactions of those close to you, and all the upset and fears that they may be experiencing in relation to your diagnosis. Third, you may have gathered some statistics from your consultant on the average survival times with your particular kind of cancer. He may even have given you a prognosis in terms of the number of months or years that this ‘average person’ with your condition might be expected to live, based on the medical treatments available when the research was done – often many years earlier.
However, statistics never apply to individuals, and the course of your illness is unique to you. There are over 200 types of cancer and the way it develops or regresses is different in everyone who has it. Challenge your negative beliefs. Make sure you have really taken on board the encouraging information presented at the beginning of Chapter 1, and keep repeating it to yourself until you truly believe it! People do actually survive with every sort of cancer, and there is no reason why that should not include you.
Getting into the Right Frame of Mind
It has now been shown that there is a major survival advantage associated with getting yourself into a good state of mind, using positive coping strategies and learning how to use effective mind – body approaches that can reactivate your immune system and your body’s ability to fight back against cancer.
The way you react to a diagnosis of cancer comes down to four crucial factors:
• the beliefs you and others who influence you have about cancer
• the way you feel about your life
• how frightened you are about death and dying
• whether you believe in your own power to affect your health.
The hardest place from which to deal with your diagnosis and illness is where you are depressed, ambivalent about your life, fearful of dying, fearful of cancer and feeling impotent in terms of changing your state of health. But, I assure you, if you are prepared to look at and work with these things head on, with the right support, you can turn the situation around completely. The diagnosis of cancer inevitably throws you into a process of asking yourself and others the big questions about the meaning of life, the purpose of your life and what it is like to die. Certainly, if well facilitated, thinking about your relationship to living and dying can completely alter your ability to cope with your diagnosis and even turn it into a positive experience.
When you become aware of the many things you can do to enhance your chances of survival with cancer, your fear of cancer will start to diminish. You will begin to feel bigger and more powerful than the disease. You might even think of the diagnosis as a much needed wake-up call to enable you to go through a complete health and life revival, moving you step by step towards a life that really excites and fulfils you. As you do this, your attitude towards life will change and you will feel happier, spiritually stronger and more uplifted. The best thing is to see the illness as a message from your body that all is not well, and to use the illness as an opportunity to get your health and lifestyle onto a better footing.
By developing inner strength and thinking deeply about the true nature of life and death, it is likely that you will change your attitude towards dying, too. I do not say this lightly. It is said on the basis of having watched thousands of people with cancer go through the process of using this crisis of illness to completely transform their health and lifestyle. Strangely, a combination of becoming far happier and fulfilled in life, developing inner peace through self-help practices and looking at the question of death head-on almost always results in individuals being freed from their fear of dying. Often, with this release comes a profound new love of life and the realization that, previously, a great deal of life energy was being lost through a deep and somewhat unconscious fear of dying.
However, while you are going through your reaction to the news, it is very important to be aware of how you really feel and to find the support you need to express your emotions; then, as the shock subsides, you can work out how you are reacting and coping (or not) with the diagnosis. Your reaction can make a big difference to your prognosis, and some reactions will be helpful while others will not. There are also some underlying states of mind that can either boost or impair immune function. There is help available to change the way you are coping and to lift negative states of mind so that you can get into the best frame of mind for recovery.
The Psychological Basis for Remarkable Recovery
Caryle Hirschberg: The Role of Belief
In 1995, Caryle Hirschberg, a medical researcher, and Mark Barasch, a journalist who had cancer, published the findings of their Remission Project at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in America. Their book Remarkable Recovery was the first-ever publication on what it is that survivors of cancer have in common (rather than those who get cancer)!
In the questionnaire she sent to these survivors, they were asked which they felt were the most important of 30 self-help practices that had made them well. The practices ticked with the greatest frequency (by over 50 per cent of the participants) were: