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Sorry for the sound of cow bells starting around 15 minutes. Remember, this was recorded in a chalet up in the mountains of Switzerland!

So Is It “All In The Mind”?

In 1976 Richard Mackarness launched a revolutionary book NOT ALL IN THE MIND which changed many lives; it also led to my international career in the allergy field, or clinical ecology as we called it then. It became a best-seller, showing clearly the response of the public to the title (the book was known differently as EATING DANGEROUSLY in the USA).

Patients were simply fed up of being let down by the medical profession, which had failed to help them, and then told to go away, that the problem was “all in your mind”. The real reason, of course, was that the doctors were looking in the wrong place. They didn’t even test the possibility of food and other everyday allergies. Consequently they often declared there was “nothing wrong” and sent the patient home sad or angry and still sick. Some were even sent directly to see a psychiatrist for “treatment”.

Well, in time we have understood that some of it is in the mind. Classic experiments by Stephen Black, a doctor-hypnotist, showed that a patient could react to an allergy or not, according to what their hypnotist told them. A skin test would be positive and then turn to negative in a matter of minutes and vice versa. He even moulded a patient’s beliefs so that he or she was allergic to skin tests in one arm and not the other at the same moment. Is this a true allergy or not? Which arm was “correct” do you suppose? And what happens if a patient turns up for testing at the clinic in a state of mind that influences the testing in this way?

These are tricky questions for the wise old clinician.

Eliminating the human aspect of mind altogether, guinea pigs exposed to severe allergens while music was being played, later suffered anaphylaxis and died when the same music was replayed to them. Yet no allergen was present to cause their demise; only the animals’ expectation from earlier programming (guinea pigs are chosen because they have an immune response much like ours).

Once alerted to this psychological conditioning, it is possible to see many examples of patients reacting to substances solely because they expect to. I myself have injected blanks into patients, as part of a sequence, and noted the symptomatic response, even without allergen present. The patient thought there was an allergen present and went into their expected routine.

In other words, we are talking conditioning, in the Pavlovian style, adding extra menace to the complex difficulties of allergy and intolerance.

Now this is not to return to the old abusive “it’s in the mind” theory. But I am saying all this to say that there is potential for positive good in understanding the mind’s role. It means we can harness the power of the mind to alter or eliminate the body’s biological reaction to an allergen. For many that would be a boon; for some, it could be life-saving, as when an individual is facing the danger of an anaphylactic reaction.

To find out more, I suggest you look at a copy of a video workshop entitled Eliminating allergic responses: Retraining your immune system by Tim Hallbom and Suzi Smith (55 minutes, $40). It is available from NLP Comprehensive, 12567 W. Cedar Drive, Suite 102, Lakewood, CO 80228. Tel: 001 (303) 987-2224 Fx: 303-987-2228 or find it on their website at: http://www.nlpco.com/products/therapy/therapy-090.html

The embrace-all subject rejoices under the banner of “psycho-neuro-immunology”. It is now well known that stress depletes the immune system response; for example, after bereavement there are significant quantitative falls in the levels of T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, which vitally protect us from infections and cancer. I constantly point out to my patients that most “colds” follow a significant loss; some people believe me and some don’t! The exact physiological mechanisms are not so important as understanding of the relationship of thoughts, moods and behaviours to the immune response.

Even more importantly, we need to learn much more about how to use this interaction to benefit the immune system and so improve, among other things, allergy and intolerance. Thinking positively is a good start; avoiding negative emotions and stressful encounters is another. You don’t have to be a recluse; just quit getting into endless disputes and rows. Learn to live with grace, love and a tolerant gentleness towards others.

You’ll love the feeling anyway, as well as improve your health and longevity.

Are You Under Real Stress?

Of course stress leads to an illness. That has never been in doubt. The famous Holmes and Rahe study of 1978 attempted to quantify the degree to which stress led to a breakdown of health resources.

Ask yourself the following kinds of questions, thoughtfully and honestly (can’t remember where I found them):

1. Are you living in a relationship with someone to whom you can’t explain your feelings or desires? (doesn’t understand, won’t listen etc.)?
2. Are there people constantly telling you you’re stupid, no good etc? Have you had this for long periods of your life? (parents, at school, a relationship, at work, marriage etc.)?
3. Have you just come through (within the last 3- 5 years) a major life catastrophe: personal bankruptcy, divorce, refugee status, investigated or charged by the police, or similar?
4. Are you facing an imminent similar catastrophe, even though it hasn’t yet occurred?
5. Are you openly depressed or do you readily admit to yourself you are unhappy with life the way it is, that it’s not what you wanted for yourself?
6. Do you drink alcohol or take abuse substances (almost) every day?
7. Is there constant quarreling or anger in your household: shouting, calling names, smashing up in rages; or do you often hate someone, such as the kids, your spouse, the boss?
8. Do you live in fear (spouse, neighbors, threats at work, dread of being found out for some crime, voices in your head or frightening visions)?
9. You can’t sleep soundly for 7- 8 hours per night (dreams, ghosts, anxieties, doubts etc. keeping you awake)?
10. Do you have obsessions or compulsions you can’t drive from your mind, or ideas you have to constantly repress (such as paedophilia, wanting to kill someone, etc.)?
11. Were your parents tyrannical, abusive, neglectful, alcoholic, drug addicted or suffering from a major psychiatric disturbance (either parent)?
12. Have you had a bad drug experience that left your mind disturbed, fearful, confused or out of control in any way?
13. Is your career as you would wish – doing the right job with satisfaction and enough remuneration to pay your basic bills (or do you hate your job, hate your boss and hate getting out of bed in the morning)?

Too many YESes will certainly amount to serious stress in your life.

In more recent years Dr Ryke Geerd Hamer has launched his “New Medicine”, which is founded on five fundamental empirical conditions. The first of these is that severe illness (including cancer) follows sudden overwhelming shock. He’s got 30,000 cases to prove the cancer link. But Hamer also points out that any disease process is not some unruly piratical process going on in our bodies but an intelligent response by nature to some stressor factors, whether they be external or internal.

All intelligent doctors have believed this since Elizabethan physician Thomas Sydenham first pointed it out. Sydenham is now, ironically, revered by conventional doctors, yet very few of them know that he first propounded the fundamental holistic principle of Nature (he’s famous for the eponymous name of a kind of chorea).

The fact is that dealing with stress can be a valuable treatment for allergies. Sometimes the problem goes away altogether, it’s that basic!

Not All Stress Is Mental

Remember, when I say this, that not all stress is mental. Any chronic illness, such as infections and malnutrition, is stressful; exhaustion and excessive physical exertion are similarly so; lack of vitamins, too little sleep, cold, heat and other extremes are all forms of stress. These factors can all make allergies worse by lowering the body’s resistance. Allergies themselves are stressful, which is rather a vicious circle in some cases and explains why sometimes a patient gets ill due, say, to a virus condition and then never really gets over it.  The allergies themselves maintain the stress and recovery is not possible until the allergies are detected and defused.

Hans Selye’s theory about stress (see MECHANISMS OF ALLERGY) is a good one, in that it explains the observed facts and enables us to make certain predictions. For example, if stress goes on too long there will come a time when no adverse effects can be observed (stage 2), a state we call adapatation. Yet this will inevitably lead to a serious deterioration, unless the stress is removed (stage 3), the actual time interval varying according to the individual and the type of stress.

The bottom line of this is that allergics must avoid stress.  If that sounds too perfect then let us say unnecessary ‘stress’ perhaps, even more exactly, that allergics should learn to contend with stress. It may not be possible to avoid a stress experience but if the patient can make an allowance for it, by reducing stress in some other area, the effects may not be so disastrous. Thus I often find myself, faced with a patient whose illness has returned during times of crisis, suggesting revert to a much simpler and safer diet for a period. The rationale is that wrong foods themselves may be stressful and those which are tolerated barely under optimum conditions are best avoided until the danger has passed. Going to bed to rest more may the same effect (not to be encouraged too often). Other ways of reducing stress in a compensatory way may suggest themselves in individual cases. This is what I mean by learning to cope with stress, as opposed to merely avoiding it.

Get Out Of The Fast Lane

A lot of people ask for trouble by pushing themselves too far a hectic society we live in today and often relentless pressure assails the individual who wants to do a little more than just get by. Success comes at a price and often the price is too high.  It isn’t really worth striving for material goals if by the time you achieve what you want bad health prevents you from enjoying your triumph. The neurotic rich are a study in hang-ups and pathology. It is worthwhile stopping to consider whether you really want to join them!

Remember, the body begins to recover as soon as you remove stress. It may take a long time but as soon as you control adverse factors, things will begin to look up. The fact is it’s too late to change. There are many worthwhile goals in life apart from a bigger mortgage or a prestigious car. It may better to set yourself some spiritual goals; perhaps more time with the kids, that special holiday you’ve always promised yourself. Remember, the harder it is for you to contemplate this thing, the more in the grip of the race you are. People who take time off at the drop of a hat and go for a few days on a tour in Scotland, The Algarve, Bali, or Panama are not really under much pressure. It is those who can’t get away who are the ones who must do so, for their own good!

Don’t forget to also visit the Neurolinguistic Programming video page here: Neurolinguistic programming demo