THE PSYCHOLOGY AND
PHYSIOLOGY OF HOPE AND EXPECTATION
In his book, The
Biology of Belief, Cell Biologist Bruce Lipton writes, “University of
Connecticut psychology professor Irving Kirsch found that 80% of the effect of
antidepressants, as measured in clinical trials, could be attributed to the
placebo effect. The data show that more than half of the clinical trials for
the six leading antidepressants, the drugs did not out outperform placebo sugar
pills.”
What this means is
that the power of the belief that the pills will bring relief for depression
will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the pills. What is in
the pill, whether it is a drug or sugar water, appears not to be the important
thing. According to Lipton, the important thing is the power of your expectation
and belief which directly and dynamically impact the biology of your brain.
Just through the influence of their words and the authority
of their body language, health professionals can communicate hope and positive
expectancy or hopelessness. A couple of stories from my own life will
illustrate this point.
In 1984 my father was diagnosed with lung cancer and the
attending physician told him that he had less than 6 months to live. As a
family we tried everything possible to keep his spirits up but he remained
haunted by the words of that doctor. He
expected to die and six months he was dead.
When my mom had a heart attack in 2005, the attending
cardiologist told her that there was little he could do because of her age and
that she could die. When I asked her why she was crying, she told me what he
had said. I called him by telephone from the nurse’s station and asked him why
he told her that. He said he had been a cardiologist for over 35 years and I
had no right to question him. I told him
that I do not know what medical school he attended but he didn’t even learn the
most basic principle; to practice good medicine you always leave a patient with
hope. When he began to argue with me, I fired him. The nurses and attendants at
the nurse’s station who were attentively listening to this conversation, enthusiastically
applauded. I hired another cardiologist and told him to approach my mom’s
condition with positive expectancy. He assured me that he would. His manner was
gracious and his voice optimistic. He told her that he could treat her heart
condition with medication. 7 years later, my mom is still living on her own
cooking, baking, cleaning, and excitedly watching the Dodgers. She just turned
98 and thoroughly enjoys life. She expects to live to be 100 and she probably
will.
Dr. Lipton writes, “Learning how to harness your mind to
promote growth is the secret of life. Of course the secret of life is not a
secret at all. Teachers like Buddha and Jesus have been telling us the same
story for millennia. Now science is pointing in the same direction. It is not
your genes but your beliefs that control your life!”
John A. Tamiazzo, PhD Author of Returning to the Land of Oz available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Barnesandnoble.com both in paperback and e-book formats
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