- Managing Anticipatory Nausea and Vomiting
It is often claimed that using the supposedly untapped powers of the mind is the path to health and happiness. It is a theory that is both true and false. The truth lies in that part of the theory suggesting that by changing our thinking we can change our physical and mental health. With the right kind of thinking we might begin to reduce the number of illnesses we have, allow our bodies to overcome serious disease states, increase our physical strength, and develop social skills.
The false part of the theory is the part that suggests the process of change is obvious; just a matter of positive thinking. Positive thinking might get us started, and by allowing us to change lifestyle might very well bring about great changes in our well-being. But it is not enough by itself for the kind of change that the phrase "mind power" usually suggests to people. The danger is that people who believe self change can come just by wanting it will both miss out on possible benefits and be depressed by failure.
Many people cannot create the kinds of changes they need without guidance. An example concerning people suffering from cancer might clarify this point. One of the strategies that doctors use to eliminate cancer in the body is chemotherapy. Sometimes the chemicals used have unpleasant effects such as feelings of discomfort and nausea that persist for hours or even days.
Many people come to dread the chemotherapy treatment even though at first they are happy to try it. Thus even before the next treatment they may begin to have the "side-effects" of the treatment. After one or two exposures their bodies anticipate the uncomfortable effects, and instead of the side effects lasting only while the chemicals are active in the body, they can begin days before, and persist for days after the treatment.
In practice people may feel extremely irritable and jumpy, dreadfully on edge, days before their next chemotherapy. They may have great difficulty sleeping, and the nausea that accompanies the chemotherapy may begin. They develop feelings of intense dislike for the place where they have the chemotherapy, for the nurses and doctors who deliver it (regardless of how kind and considerate they may be), and for any other person or object that happens to be around on the chemotherapy day.
These effects are learned. Or to use a more traditional psychological jargon, they are conditioned. Through their association with unpleasant stimuli (the chemotherapy) normally neutral or pleasant things come to have very negative feelings attached to them.
So far this is obvious. After all, this is the very principal we so often employ when using punishment for bad or illegal behavior. We do something very unpleasant to other people (e.g. we smack children) so that they will be fearful of their "crime" and want to avoid the same situation in future.
What is less obvious is how to get rid of the feelings of fear, or guilt, that a history of punishment produces. Or in the case of chemotherapy patients, how to get rid of the fear,and the anticipatory nausea and vomiting that chemotherapy can induce.
The behaviour – the anticipatory nausea and vomiting - can be changed. What is required is a relearning, or if you like, an unlearning of the association between the unpleasant body feelings, and all of the "irrelevant" events and experiences that surround the chemotherapy.
You have to set up a situation where the unpleasant feelings are replaced by other feelings, pleasant feelings. And while this may be very difficult when it comes to the immediate effects of chemotherapy, it can be quite easily done with anticipatory effects. This means that people find their lives more comfortable, and they find it a lot easier to complete their chemotherapy.
The strategy is truly the exercise of "mind-power" for it requires the full cooperation of the individual. But powerful though it is, it is not an obvious procedure. It involves teaching the mind and body some new associations. The most straightforward way to achieve this is through training in self-hypnosis. The very deep relaxation achieved demonstrates for the person that wonderful self control is possible for them. Then it is an easier task to create new sets of feelings though the imagination. Certainly this demonstrates the human capacity to change emotional experience. It is not magic. It is straightforward behavior change.
More readings will be added to my blog from time to time. Have a quick look now to see the first posting on my blog PSYC1PLUS