 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
OVERCOMING CANCER: A SYSTEM CONCEPT OF HEALTH
The results of countless placebo studies and the increasingly sophisticated use of biofeedback technology have caused the physical orientation of medicine to begin to undergo a change. It is no longer possible to see the body as an object waiting for replacement parts from the factory. Instead we now view the mind and body as an integrated system.
In this view, physical treatment remains an integral and essential part of the battle with a life-threatening disease such as cancer. Yet without beliefs—those of the patient and of the medical team—to support the treatment and create an expectancy of health, the physical treatment is incomplete. Recovery is more likely when we mobilize the whole person in the direction of health.
It is this concept, that the whole person be mobilized, that creates—even demands—a role for the patient in overcoming cancer and other diseases. The limits of the patient's responsibility extend far beyond getting himself to a physician who will "fix him up." Each person can assume responsibility for examining, even altering, beliefs and feelings that do not support the treatment, that do not move in the direction of affirming life and health.
Each of the next four chapters deals with one part of this changing conception of our role in illness and health. Each draws together a few more strands that tie the system together. The starting place is a definition of cancer that will be new to many, and an increased appreciation for our own resources to influence the disease.
*10\347\2*
Cancer