Return to Wellness

Our beliefs about illness may sometimes help in our healing. These authors share insights on how this occurs:

Rilke's book (Stephen Mitchell translation for Kindle)

Jerome Groopman's Amazon page

Kate Bowler's book

The PLOS ONE study on placebos for IBS

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
[ music].
Hi, this is Rob Sepich, andwelcome to Relaxing with Rob.
When you're feeling under theweather, do you fight it, think
it's not fair, and wonder, whyis this happening to me, and how

(00:24):
long is this going to last?
Or do you think, hmm, okay, thisis too bad, but it's probably
temporary, and maybe I can evenlearn something in the process?
Of course, there are lots ofother responses, but I'm asking
you to think for a moment aboutyour typical reaction, because
this can have a big effect onyour recovery.

(00:48):
And you can change yourresponse.
When I'd have a cold, mymother-in-law liked to remind me
with something like,"Now Rob, anuntreated cold could last for 14
days! But if you treat it, it'llbe over in two weeks." Today,
I'd like to talk about the powerof belief, and how some beliefs

(01:12):
can help your body's ability toreturn to wellness.
I'll share some ideas fromliterature and science as well
as a personal example.
In Rilke's"Letters to a YoungPoet," he asks,"Why do you want
to shut out of your life anyagitation, any pain, any

(01:35):
melancholy, since you really donot know what these states are
working upon you?" And a littlelater in that same paragraph he
writes,"If there is anythingmorbid in your processes, just
remember that sickness is themeans by which an organism frees

(01:56):
itself of foreign matter; so onemust just help it to be sick, to
have its whole sickness andbreak out with it, for that is
its progress." To me, his lessonhere is patience and the
opportunity to learn somethingin the process.
Maybe your lesson could be"slowdown" or"ask for help" or some

(02:22):
other type of self care.
For me it was often,"Hmm, theworld still seems to rotate on
its axis when I'm sick and misswork.
Apparently life goes on." It washumbling, but also kind of
comforting.

(02:42):
But please don't go too far tofind meaning in your illnesses.
Several authors have cautionedabout the dangers in looking for
explanations for tragedies andserious illnesses.
Most recently, Kate Bowler'sbest selling book,"Everything

Happens for a Reason (03:00):
And Other Lies I've Loved" does a great
job dissecting platitudes, andoffers much more helpful
responses.
At age 35, she was diagnosedwith stage IV colon cancer, so
she speaks with personalexperience.

(03:21):
Bernie Siegel, the formersurgeon from Yale, would
distinguish healing from curing.
In our culture, we often thinkthat anything short of a cure is
failure.
How often have you heard thephrase that somebody"lost their
battle" with cancer?

(03:41):
You know, Siegel wrote aboutmany of his patients who
actually experienced healingeven as they were dying.
And now let's talk science.
I am fascinated with research onthe placebo effect.
That's the well-establishedfinding that for some illnesses,

(04:01):
many of us--often about a thirdof us--get better after
receiving a fake treatment likea sugar pill.
So our improvement can only beattributed to our beliefs about
the treatment.
Deception is involved, but itworks.
In the U.S., medications thatare being developed have to

(04:24):
outperform placebos in order tobe brought to market--just makes
sense.
And while it's true that forlots of health issues, one in
three do improve from placebos.
But when the provider alsobelieves in the treatment, and
when there's a trustingrelationship between the patient
and provider, the effect is evenmuch stronger.

(04:46):
Instead of thinking dismissivelyabout the placebo effect,
Herbert Benson from Harvardcalled it"remembered wellness"(I
just love that phrase) toindicate that this can be seen
as our ability to remember thathealth is our natural state, and
quite often, we can get back toit.

(05:10):
How does this relate to stress?
Well, as I've said before,short-term or acute stress is
not a problem, but chronicstress definitely interferes
with our ability to return towellness.
Among other things, itsignificantly impairs our immune
system.

(05:31):
We just don't heal very well, orat least not very quickly.
I've never advocated for the useof alternative practices in
place of evidence-based medicalcare.
But I do encourage the use ofsome of these like relaxation
and mindfulness as adjuncts tomore widely accepted practices.

(05:52):
For example, with both of mycancer diagnoses, I did not say
to my doctors,"Never mind aboutsurgery; I've got some crystals
and magnets that should do thetrick." No, I was an informed
healthcare consumer, an activepartner with my team.

(06:12):
And in addition to biopsies andsurgeries, I changed my diet,
used relaxation, music, humor,and a support system.
And although I had some pain, Ireally did not suffer.
And I got back to work, barre3,and Zumba much faster than my

(06:34):
doctors were expecting.
Okay, back to placebos.
I'd just like to tell you abouttwo studies.
There was a randomizedcontrolled trial published in
2010 in the Public Library ofScience(PLOS ONE) on open label
placebo for irritable bowelsyndrome.
In other words, patients withIBS knew they were getting a

(06:56):
placebo, compared to ano-treatment control group.
What did they find?
Are you ready for this?
The placebo group had almost a60% improvement in terms of
symptom relief and quality oflife.
This was the first study to showthat deception wasn't even

(07:19):
necessary to get the placeboeffect.
Then three years later(in 2013)a study from Finland that was
published in the New EnglandJournal of Medicine addressed
the placebo effect forarthroscopic knee surgery for
patients with a torn meniscus.
At the time, that was the mostcommon orthopedic procedure in

(07:41):
the U.S., done about 700,000times a year at a cost of around
$4 billion.
The volunteer patients allreceived anesthesia and
incisions and stitches, but somereceived actual surgery, and
others, sham procedures.
Patients did not know which.

(08:04):
A year later, most patients inboth groups said their knees
were better.
They would choose the samemethod again, they said, even if
it was the fake method.
Now today for some people,arthroscopic knee surgery
remains an effective procedure.

(08:24):
It really depends on the type ofinjury and who you are.
But for others, research isshowing: not so much.
In the class I taught, we spentmuch more time than this looking
at studies on the placeboeffect.
But let me just say that I amamazed at how powerful it is.

(08:46):
And that's why I do not questionother people's beliefs unless I
think they could cause themharm.
Jerome Groopman from Harvard'sMedical School investigated
patients' beliefs in order todebunk their false hopes.
But instead, he became aconvert, and he published a

(09:07):
bestseller in support of many ofthem called"The Biology of
Hope." He does an excellent jobexplaining the changes in our
brains and bodies and immunesystems that come from hope.
For your convenience, I'mplacing links to his books as
well as Rilke's and Bowler's inthe show notes.

(09:29):
These are non-affiliate links,so if you purchase something, I
don't receive anything.
And I also encourage you topurchase from your local
bookseller or borrow them fromyour library.
So your mission, should youchoose to accept it, involves
identifying your beliefs aboutillness, and if you'd like,

(09:52):
modifying them.
Remember episode 40,"Edit YourLife?" This is within your
power.
For example, Rilke's ideas mighthelp you become more patient
with illness.
Maybe find some self-carepractices that could help in
your healing.

(10:14):
Groopman's research couldsupport your beliefs with
science, proving that it's notall in your head--it's also in
your immune system.
And finally, Bowler's insightsmight help steer you away from
platitudes about lifethreatening diseases and into

(10:34):
some territory that simply ringstrue for lots of people.
Regardless, I would like tothank you for listening, and
we'll talk again soon.
[ music]