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Repression Of Symptoms: The Need For Psychic Work In Physical Illness Part 1
03/11/08 10:22 Filed in: AK and The Mind
Applied Kinesiology has focused upon only two sides of the Triad of Health—the structural and chemical sides. As a result, many who practice AK are at a loss when the causes of a patient’s presenting symptom is mental.
Although Goodheart recognized that health problems can have a mental cause, his background and that of most of the therapists who have developed AK was in the areas of structure and chemistry. He hoped that his early colleague, the psychiatrist Dr. John Diamond, would integrate psychological techniques with AK, but this did not occur as hoped. It is still true today that most of the therapists who practice AK have little or no training in psychology and are thus are not able to make adequate diagnosis and treatments on the mental side of the triad of health .
As the triad of health reveals, health problems can have structural, chemical and mental causes. And correction of one side of the triad of health can have profound affects upon the other two sides. If the cause of mental problems is a lack of a particular nutrient, supplying this nutrient can correct the mental problem. If the cause of a mental problem is poor posture or other faulty structural alignment, correcting these can correct the mental problem.
However, if the causes of a mental or any other kind of health problem lie primarily on the mental side of the triad of health, (including mental, emotional and possibly spiritual causes), having a structural treatment or taking a medicine (or supplement) that eliminates the symptoms will suppress the cause of the problem. Such inadequate corrective measures will 1) need to be repeated indefinitely and/or 2) be equivalent to turning off a smoke alarm while a fire still burns.
Symptoms can assist us to be aware that some aspect of our beliefs, our behavior, our expectations or some other aspect of our lives is inaccurate, incorrect, and in need of adjustment. For example, a pain may be caused by incorrect posture or a poor pattern of use such as always carrying heavy luggage with the same hand. Taking a drug may, at least temporarily, reduce the pain. But, suppressing the symptoms through such inappropriate treatment can eliminate the stimulus that could provoke needed change and personal growth.
Since modern medicine and most other therapeutic systems are typically oriented toward correcting problems by eliminating symptoms, suppression rather than cure is very often the result. The inappropriate application of any therapeutic method can result in suppression.
The Subconscious Storehouse of Innate Knowledge
The total information about how our bodies are structured and how they should function is stored in our genetic material, our DNA. Although we are not consciously aware of this “library” of knowledge, some portion our being below the level of conscious awareness uses it constantly to monitor and direct all the processes of our bodies. One could say that our bodies have an inherent wisdom. This portion of our being which directs body processes below the level of conscious awareness includes both the DNA, the autonomic nervous system and the ground system of regulation.
Not only the DNA, but also the information generated by reason of prior experiences is used to direct human function and behavior. For example, in a particular situation we may have suffered fear and/or pain. Subsequently, when similar appearing situations occur, we automatically react so as to avoid fear and pain. This reaction is both nervous and chemical and occurs below the level of conscious awareness. The impressions (memories) left by experiences, whether consciously experienced or not, appear to be stored both in the brain and in particular tissues throughout of the body. The exact neurophysiology is only partially understood. Except in cases of genetic defects, the genes supply accurate information for optimal health and functioning. However, the impressions left by experience (and the beliefs and expectations we created as a result) may be inaccurate and thereby be a cause of malfunctioning and even disease.
For all the functions of the human (structural, chemical and mental) that lie outside of the conscious awareness, I will use the term, the “subconscious.” By this definition, the subconscious includes the functions of the autonomic nervous system and the ground system of regulation and is thus responsible for the healing and the maintenance of health. Clearly this definition is more encompassing that held in many medical circles but will be familiar to those versed in Jungian psychology, Neurolinguistic Programming and many other healing traditions.
The healing process is influenced by mental-emotional states. It is well documented that patients who strongly believe that they will get well have a better chance of getting well than patients with a more negative attitude toward their own healing. The young science of psycho-neuro immunology is providing many examples of chemical changes produced in the body as a result of mental-emotional states. This implies that functions of the autonomic nervous system, including healing, is influenced by mental-emotional states.
Evidence indicates that on a subconscious instinctual level, we know what is wrong with us and what we need to correct the problem. For example, children with rickets like the taste of cod liver oil. Pregnant women with nutritional deficiencies are inexorably drawn to eat substances which contain the elements that their growing foetus requires. But most of us are so out of touch with our own subconscious wisdom that we don’t consciously know what we need to solve the problems of health (happiness, success, etc.). Stated in another way, most of us neither recognize nor respond correctly to behavioral impulses arising from our own autonomic nervous systems.
A German nurse worked as the local doctor in a rural village in Africa. Often women would stand in line for hours with their small naked children held on their hips. The nurse was amazed that the children never urinated on the mothers’ dresses. She asked one mother why her dress was never urinated upon. The mother responded, “When my child has to pee, I put him down on the ground.” The nurse asked, “How do you know when your child has to pee?” The mother looked at the nurse like she was mentally deficit and asked, “How do you know when you have to pee?” The African mother felt pressure in her own bladder, noted that she didn’t have to pee, realized that the sign she felt in her own body was the need of her child, and put the child down. This was the most natural thing in the world for the African mother. For the nurse, it was a miracle, an extrasensory perception.
Perhaps it is the constant focus upon training of the conscious mind and upon conscious endeavors that has caused modern civilized people to lose touch with the natural wisdom of the body. Whatever the reason, we civilized people are mostly lacking in awareness of what our bodies are trying to tell us. This point was delightfully depicted by a client during a diagnostic session using AK. As I muscle tested and gathered information, she asked, “If my body knows all this, why am I so stupid?”
Muscle testing provides a rather coarse tool for inquiring of the subconscious, for obtaining direct responses from the body. When you think of it, why should we have to press on each other’s arms in order to find out what we already know? Answer: Because we are so out of touch with our own subconscious wisdom that we no longer have conscious access to what we essentially know.
In this state, our body tries to communicate to our conscious mind through symptoms such as pain. A pain can be like a smoke alarm, alerting us that there is a “fire burning”; to the existence of a problem requiring our attention. But how can we correctly interpret our symptoms? AK derived techniques, when correctly applied as will be described later, can help us to determine and correct the causes of our symptoms. Before I knew of such techniques, I observed that the nature of our symptoms and the areas of the body where they occur can often help us to decipher the nature of the underlying problem. Knowledge of this kind of body language can be a valuable tool for any therapist.
--Dr. Robert Frost