Psychosomatic illness as a Creative Process Part 6

The will to live is a new-brain behavior that may transmit activate-the-immune-system hormones to the old brain, the way Alan transmitted activate-the-fighting-system hormones to his old brain. What cancer sufferers who give up seem to do is just the opposite of what Alan did: in giving up, they might stop sending activating hormones, and the old brain and the immune system fail to seek a creative body solution to their problem. The behavior of giving up, “What’s the use of fighting anymore? I’m beaten,” is often chosen when we are told we have cancer, the most dreaded of all diseases. When we become aware that we have any serious illness, we are always hard pressed to retain control over our lives.

We need all the help we can get at this point from everyone around us to retain the control that seems to be slipping away. But most importantly, we do not need to be put in any situation that is difficult for us to deal with. Every added difficulty is another obstacle, and tired and discouraged as we often are, the last things we need are more obstacles. For example, I believe that if I suspect that I may be suffering from a serious illness, such as cancer, I would not want to be told any more than was necessary for me to get good medical treatment. I would want to be told that there was a good chance I would get well, because there could be. I wouldn’t want to see that my doctor was discouraged but that she would try her best for me.

After that, I would not want to know anything more, because I would want to maintain as much control over my life as I could. On my own, all I have going for me is my old brain and its immune system, and I know that the more I am in charge of my life, the better the relationship will be between my new brain and my old. And the better this relationship is, the more my old brain will fight creatively for my life. This fight may be as important to my survival, or at least to the quality of my remaining life, as anything my doctor can do for me. Unfortunately, the medical practice of keeping still-functioning cancer patients in bed in large, frightening, impersonal hospitals is probably not sensible treatment. It is convenient for the doctor and hospital, but because much of the fight against cancer must come from within, it makes sense to keep our old brains as functional as possible.

Anything that can be done to help sick people maintain control over their lives is probably an essential part of any good (old-brain-supportive) treatment plan. Most physicians recognize that this is true, but the whole thrust of scientific medicine with its awesome treatments and huge apparatus can present difficulties. By minimizing hospital stays, doctors seem to encourage patients to maintain control of their lives. Everything done for (but really as much as) sick people in a modern hospital takes control away from them and puts it into outside hands.

At some point, many patients begin to give up, because the little they are able to do gets them so little of the control they desire that continuing to fight is not worth it. Unlike Alan, they need to send fighting messenger hormones from their new brain to their old, and when they give up, they seem to stop sending these life-saving messages. The foundation of all good medical treatment, whatever the disease, should be to do as much as possible to help those who are sick maintain and even regain as much control over their lives as their disabilities allow.