Annie Sawyer, Ph. D.
According to the Mind/Body model of health/ illness there are multitude of factors as: Psychosocial factors, Psycho Neuro Immunological factors, Biopsychosocial Factors, Genetics and Inheritance, Health habits and Life style, Emotional state, Amount of social support and Environment. The power of belief- the mind/body model emphasizes that beliefs influence health and well- being. For example our beliefs affect how we do comply with medical treatment- if we do not belief in the treatment; there is a strong possibility that we will not be influenced positively.
The placebo effect has 3 components:
1/ the belief of the client;
2/ the belief of the health practitioner;
3/ the relationship client/health practitioner.
When these 3 are positive, even a placebo effect has 37% chance to work as well as an active medicine. As much we will belief in our surgeon, as better the result would be.
The mind /body approach to health requires our active participation-by making life changes, loosing weight, stopping smoking etc. All the above are correlated with our belief that we can make the above changes and that they will positively help our health and well-being.
The mind/ body model recognizes that our thoughts and emotions have direct influence on our health.
Specific behaviors contribute to illness- exercise, tobacco use, the use of drugs can affect our recovery from disease.
Psychological and emotional reactions directly affect the physiological state of our body. When we have calm, peaceful thoughts, we tend to have equilibrated emotional reaction and equal physiological one and when we are angry or frustrated we become emotionally aroused, and consequently our physiological reactions are dramatic. We know that stress-induced physiological reactions when repeated or prolonged, can contribute to serious illness.
Psychosocial factors on the human body and their influence on health- Disability and pathology are symptoms of deeper problems; disease is the end product of malfunctioning systems. Poverty is still considered the number one problem linked with poor public health around the world.
Psycho Neuro Immunology factors are the interactions between Mind / Nervous System/Immune Systems. Psycho Neuro Immunology can help us to establish a bridge between the material (biological and physiological) factors and "non-material" (societal, economical, political) factors that affect health and disease. The Nervous System, the brain in particular, is at the center of those interactions. It is the principal link between the mind (or the mental state) and the body's immune system. Physical symptoms are influenced by thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. And conversely, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by physical symptoms.
Psycho Neuro Immunology gives us a physiological basis upon which we can build the mechanisms of how social interactions, or the lack there of, can affect health, for instance. Stress correlates with the socio-economic status and the well-being. Certain economic systems can even promote a disease while healthy economy is a healthy society.
Biopsychosocial Factors-integrate the psychosocial, biological and behavioral catalysts on health. These factors affect, via stress, the Neuroendocrine and Immune Systems, which in turn determine disease vulnerability and progression. It is true that is strongly related to heart disease, especially among people of low socio-economic status. Poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, and alcohol abuse can contribute to many illnesses. Also, loneliness and social isolation have been linked to increased morbidity and mortality. The Biopsychosocial Factors are more comprehensive, and will thus help us in our approach to the problem of mind, society and wellness
Main mechanism- the conductors of health/ illness are the NeuroEndocrine and Immune Systems, and their effects on the rest of the body. Environmental events that are challenging, uncontrollable or unpredictable activate the body's stress or "fight-or-flight" response. This response triggers physiological and behavioral changes in taxing or threatening situations. The Sympathetic Nervous System promotes the release of hormones that affect both- the Nervous and Immune Systems. A key hormone corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) produced in the hypothalamus it unites the stress and immune responses. CRH causes the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH), which triggers the adrenal glands to make Cortisol. The HPA axis and its key hormone Cortisol, are major components of the NeuroEndocrine stress response.
Cortisol is a steroid hormone that increases the rate and strength of heart contractions, and it is also an immunosuppressor, immunoregulator and anti-inflammatory agent. This is a key point, because this arousal is thought to be a mechanism by which the stress response affects health. It causes an increasing "wear and tear” on bodily systems, and damage to arteries, neural systems, and organ systems, and reducing resistance to pathogenesis. This emphasizes the inter-dependence of the nervous and immune systems, and indicates that the malfunction of their regulating mechanisms can have serious consequences on health. Therefore, stress can have negative outcomes on health by dampening the functioning of the immune system and increasing the body's susceptibility to infections and diseases. The regulation of the immune system by the neurohormonal stress system provides a biological basis for understanding how stress might affect these diseases. It is upon this basis that we will develop the understanding of how psychosocial stress promotes pathology. For example, the feeling of loneliness in humans is associated with an adrenaline-like pattern of activation of the stress response and high blood pressure.
Cognitive Restructuring is a process of changing subconscious thoughts. The technique called “cognitive restructuring" helps us to change the automatism we do think and react. It provides a way to learn to recognize negative automatic thoughts and irrational beliefs, and to make us aware of how they affect our physical condition and psychical behavior. The goal is to help people overcome faulty thinking errors by bringing them to a level of conscious awareness of their incorrect programming. Focusing on negative thoughts can affect our mood, leading to a headache or on the contrary- the headache can affect our mood and this in turn can affect our thoughts and behavior. Cognitive restructuring does not deny negative feelings or distress- there are many things in our lives over which it is appropriate to react with a dose of negativism, anger or frustration. The above is a constructive reaction of our body and mind that helps to take decisions and to survive in the above “flight or fight” situation. But if we emphasize predominantly on anxiety, depression, guilt, or anger- the above emotions are becoming extremely malignant on our physic and psychic. Governed by strong emotions the mind becomes a filter, letting into conscious awareness only those thoughts that reinforce the above mood and negative thoughts. Negative thoughts leads to pain, illnesses, cancer and heart problems due to the fact that they are always powerful and persistent.
Cognitive restructuring in cognitive therapy of learning to refute cognitive distortions or fundamental "faulty thinking," with the goal of replacing one's irrational, counter-factual beliefs with more accurate and beneficial ones. People who are perfectionists hold themselves to very high, even unrealistic, standards. They are vulnerable to making the selective attention error and focusing on what is negative while ignoring or devaluing what is positive. Because their standards are higher than are reasonable, and because they manage to ignore what is positive, instead focusing on what is negative, they will end up failing to meet them a fair portion of the time, and will feel bad about that failure. People whose expectations are more reasonable and fewer perfectionists are likely to meet their expectations more often and to feel comparatively better. The cognitive restructuring theory holds that your own unrealistic beliefs are directly responsible for generating dysfunctional emotions and their resultant behaviors, like stress, depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, and that we humans can be rid of such emotions and their effects by dismantling the beliefs that give them life. If we set unachievable goals a fear of failure results. Cognitive restructuring then advises to change such irrational beliefs and substitute more rational ones:
This is accomplished by leading the subject to:
· Gain awareness of detrimental thought habits
· Identify your automatic thoughts in specific situations
· Stop
· Breathe
· Reflect and ask yourself: What is going on here? Why am I so distressed? Am I late, or I am just racing against time? Is it really a crisis, if I am late? If I am late, what is the worst thing that will happen? Will worrying about it help?
· Start the process of automatic thinking
· Learn to challenge your thoughts
· Substitute life-enhancing thoughts and beliefs
The rationale used in cognitive restructuring attempts to strengthen the client's belief that 1) 'self-talk' can influence performance, and 2) in particular self-defeating thoughts or negative self-statements can cause emotional distress and interfere with performance, a process that then repeats again in a cycle.
· Each person has two minds- the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind belongs to you, but your subconscious belongs to your early environment and those who raised you.
· Much of who you are hasn't much to do with you. Negative Programming is the cause of low self-respect, distorted thinking and self-defeating thoughts and behaviors.
· The negative circumstances in your life are not all your fault. You are only responsible for your actions.
· You may not have control over your subconscious mind, but you do over your conscious mind. Each person knows right from wrong. To become a criminal is your choice and to become better person is again your choice. Select between the two choices.
· Life isn't fair. If you don't stop what you are doing, life will get harder and harder.
· Much of life is based on perception or belief and not necessarily the truth. You are many times better than you think you are. The more you learn about yourself- the happier you will be.
· You can change who you are by changing what you are doing regardless of your circumstances. Life is what you make of it. If you are not successful and happy it is your fault.
The placebo effect has 3 components:
1/ the belief of the client;
2/ the belief of the health practitioner;
3/ the relationship client/health practitioner.
When these 3 are positive, even a placebo effect has 37% chance to work as well as an active medicine. As much we will belief in our surgeon, as better the result would be.
The mind /body approach to health requires our active participation-by making life changes, loosing weight, stopping smoking etc. All the above are correlated with our belief that we can make the above changes and that they will positively help our health and well-being.
The mind/ body model recognizes that our thoughts and emotions have direct influence on our health.
Specific behaviors contribute to illness- exercise, tobacco use, the use of drugs can affect our recovery from disease.
Psychological and emotional reactions directly affect the physiological state of our body. When we have calm, peaceful thoughts, we tend to have equilibrated emotional reaction and equal physiological one and when we are angry or frustrated we become emotionally aroused, and consequently our physiological reactions are dramatic. We know that stress-induced physiological reactions when repeated or prolonged, can contribute to serious illness.
Psychosocial factors on the human body and their influence on health- Disability and pathology are symptoms of deeper problems; disease is the end product of malfunctioning systems. Poverty is still considered the number one problem linked with poor public health around the world.
Psycho Neuro Immunology factors are the interactions between Mind / Nervous System/Immune Systems. Psycho Neuro Immunology can help us to establish a bridge between the material (biological and physiological) factors and "non-material" (societal, economical, political) factors that affect health and disease. The Nervous System, the brain in particular, is at the center of those interactions. It is the principal link between the mind (or the mental state) and the body's immune system. Physical symptoms are influenced by thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. And conversely, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by physical symptoms.
Psycho Neuro Immunology gives us a physiological basis upon which we can build the mechanisms of how social interactions, or the lack there of, can affect health, for instance. Stress correlates with the socio-economic status and the well-being. Certain economic systems can even promote a disease while healthy economy is a healthy society.
Biopsychosocial Factors-integrate the psychosocial, biological and behavioral catalysts on health. These factors affect, via stress, the Neuroendocrine and Immune Systems, which in turn determine disease vulnerability and progression. It is true that is strongly related to heart disease, especially among people of low socio-economic status. Poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, and alcohol abuse can contribute to many illnesses. Also, loneliness and social isolation have been linked to increased morbidity and mortality. The Biopsychosocial Factors are more comprehensive, and will thus help us in our approach to the problem of mind, society and wellness
Main mechanism- the conductors of health/ illness are the NeuroEndocrine and Immune Systems, and their effects on the rest of the body. Environmental events that are challenging, uncontrollable or unpredictable activate the body's stress or "fight-or-flight" response. This response triggers physiological and behavioral changes in taxing or threatening situations. The Sympathetic Nervous System promotes the release of hormones that affect both- the Nervous and Immune Systems. A key hormone corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) produced in the hypothalamus it unites the stress and immune responses. CRH causes the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH), which triggers the adrenal glands to make Cortisol. The HPA axis and its key hormone Cortisol, are major components of the NeuroEndocrine stress response.
Cortisol is a steroid hormone that increases the rate and strength of heart contractions, and it is also an immunosuppressor, immunoregulator and anti-inflammatory agent. This is a key point, because this arousal is thought to be a mechanism by which the stress response affects health. It causes an increasing "wear and tear” on bodily systems, and damage to arteries, neural systems, and organ systems, and reducing resistance to pathogenesis. This emphasizes the inter-dependence of the nervous and immune systems, and indicates that the malfunction of their regulating mechanisms can have serious consequences on health. Therefore, stress can have negative outcomes on health by dampening the functioning of the immune system and increasing the body's susceptibility to infections and diseases. The regulation of the immune system by the neurohormonal stress system provides a biological basis for understanding how stress might affect these diseases. It is upon this basis that we will develop the understanding of how psychosocial stress promotes pathology. For example, the feeling of loneliness in humans is associated with an adrenaline-like pattern of activation of the stress response and high blood pressure.
Cognitive Restructuring is a process of changing subconscious thoughts. The technique called “cognitive restructuring" helps us to change the automatism we do think and react. It provides a way to learn to recognize negative automatic thoughts and irrational beliefs, and to make us aware of how they affect our physical condition and psychical behavior. The goal is to help people overcome faulty thinking errors by bringing them to a level of conscious awareness of their incorrect programming. Focusing on negative thoughts can affect our mood, leading to a headache or on the contrary- the headache can affect our mood and this in turn can affect our thoughts and behavior. Cognitive restructuring does not deny negative feelings or distress- there are many things in our lives over which it is appropriate to react with a dose of negativism, anger or frustration. The above is a constructive reaction of our body and mind that helps to take decisions and to survive in the above “flight or fight” situation. But if we emphasize predominantly on anxiety, depression, guilt, or anger- the above emotions are becoming extremely malignant on our physic and psychic. Governed by strong emotions the mind becomes a filter, letting into conscious awareness only those thoughts that reinforce the above mood and negative thoughts. Negative thoughts leads to pain, illnesses, cancer and heart problems due to the fact that they are always powerful and persistent.
Cognitive restructuring in cognitive therapy of learning to refute cognitive distortions or fundamental "faulty thinking," with the goal of replacing one's irrational, counter-factual beliefs with more accurate and beneficial ones. People who are perfectionists hold themselves to very high, even unrealistic, standards. They are vulnerable to making the selective attention error and focusing on what is negative while ignoring or devaluing what is positive. Because their standards are higher than are reasonable, and because they manage to ignore what is positive, instead focusing on what is negative, they will end up failing to meet them a fair portion of the time, and will feel bad about that failure. People whose expectations are more reasonable and fewer perfectionists are likely to meet their expectations more often and to feel comparatively better. The cognitive restructuring theory holds that your own unrealistic beliefs are directly responsible for generating dysfunctional emotions and their resultant behaviors, like stress, depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, and that we humans can be rid of such emotions and their effects by dismantling the beliefs that give them life. If we set unachievable goals a fear of failure results. Cognitive restructuring then advises to change such irrational beliefs and substitute more rational ones:
This is accomplished by leading the subject to:
· Gain awareness of detrimental thought habits
· Identify your automatic thoughts in specific situations
· Stop
· Breathe
· Reflect and ask yourself: What is going on here? Why am I so distressed? Am I late, or I am just racing against time? Is it really a crisis, if I am late? If I am late, what is the worst thing that will happen? Will worrying about it help?
· Start the process of automatic thinking
· Learn to challenge your thoughts
· Substitute life-enhancing thoughts and beliefs
The rationale used in cognitive restructuring attempts to strengthen the client's belief that 1) 'self-talk' can influence performance, and 2) in particular self-defeating thoughts or negative self-statements can cause emotional distress and interfere with performance, a process that then repeats again in a cycle.
· Each person has two minds- the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind belongs to you, but your subconscious belongs to your early environment and those who raised you.
· Much of who you are hasn't much to do with you. Negative Programming is the cause of low self-respect, distorted thinking and self-defeating thoughts and behaviors.
· The negative circumstances in your life are not all your fault. You are only responsible for your actions.
· You may not have control over your subconscious mind, but you do over your conscious mind. Each person knows right from wrong. To become a criminal is your choice and to become better person is again your choice. Select between the two choices.
· Life isn't fair. If you don't stop what you are doing, life will get harder and harder.
· Much of life is based on perception or belief and not necessarily the truth. You are many times better than you think you are. The more you learn about yourself- the happier you will be.
· You can change who you are by changing what you are doing regardless of your circumstances. Life is what you make of it. If you are not successful and happy it is your fault.
If you would like to learn more on the above topic, to sign for on line or phone consultation, or to request an article written to suit your wellness business purposes, please call: (715) 392-7591; (218) 213-6167; or (218) 213-7087
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The material in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. Thus our intentions are not to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any disease. If you use the information in this newsletter without the approval of your health professional, the authors of this letter do not assume any responsibility. Copyright @ 2009, Natural Health-Wellness LLC. All rights reserved.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The material in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. Thus our intentions are not to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any disease. If you use the information in this newsletter without the approval of your health professional, the authors of this letter do not assume any responsibility. Copyright @ 2009, Natural Health-Wellness LLC. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment