Just recently a friend of mine was told she has a malignant tumor in her stomach. My parents kept drilling it into my mind that I had to stay positive and help her to stay positive as well. Of course I agree with positivity lifting your mood but could it really result in healing? I was willing to find out though.
Dr. Deepak Chopra writes in a CNN article about the positive thinking in relation to healing. Of course just thinking cannot cure you but it can certainly help. Chopra discusses thinking being “real” medicine. The placebo effect allows us to realize that this to be correct. The placebo effect basically allows someone to believe the drug given to them will allow them to feel better even though it may not be a real drug. So while a patient is in their hospital bed, Dr. Chopra reveals that they can often trigger this said effect by themselves. However, people will continue to argue the effectiveness of this. Although it becomes difficult, thinking is obviously the most important part of this process, and that in itself becomes increasingly difficult. Simply being able to think positively can even serve for a decline in blood-pressure and stress levels.
I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a video that was shared by a friend. This video showed a cancer patient happily dancing to a trending new song. Attached to the video is an article written by the patient. She includes that you should make the most of the bad situations and that laughter is the best medicine. Hearing this coming from the actual patient and not a scientist reviewing the situation proves how powerful positivity is. She has the power to sit in her bed and sulk or get up and make the best of it. Evidently, smiling and having a good time will prevent you from feeling worse.
So while just thinking cannot provide a cure or overall healing, it definitely serves as an aid during the process.
sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/05/health/positive-thinking-deepak-chopra/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/dallas-area-woman-puts-the-juju-n-that-chemo/338363187
I also agree that staying positive change many problems in our lives especially when it seems impossible. I do agree that being happy cause certain chemicals in our body to react different way and as you suggested it does affect blood pressure and stress levels. In this article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/3348269/How-positive-thinking-helped-me-beat-cancer.html, they also mentioned stress and how it can actually affect people’s immune system or irregular breathing patterns. It also talks about how beneficial it is to boost our own self-esteem. You should check it out !
This was a very interesting post! It reminded me of the lesson we learned in SC200 about how if prayer can heal. You brought up the question if positivity can heal. I personally think it can, similarly to what we found out about prayer and healing.
I knew just from the title I was gonna like this blog. I am a 100% believer in positivity helping people. There is no reason to be negative. It just makes a bad situation even worse. I like how you compared this to the placebo effect because they are very similar. I think this could also be a reason for why some people believe prayer can cause relief because if someone truly believes in their prayer then they will be positive which could lead to some healing.
This was a great blog post! Staying positive is one of my main goals in life because I believe there is an upside to every downside. Whenever I am hurt or sad I think about happy things and try to see a positive outcome. I believe that having a good outlook on things has an immense amount of beneficial power. Here are some tips on how to stay positive in any given situation!
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2014/04/09/how-to-stay-positive/
One of the biggest things that I believe in is staying positive throughout any situation so I very much enjoyed reading your post. Staying positive is something that my parents always said to me especially when I thought that I could not get out of the situation that I was in. Now whenever something bad happens I look for the positive aspects of it. Here is an article about the health benefits of positive thinking.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950
Daniella,
I would first like to say that I am sorry to hear the news about your friend’s tumor. I hope that she will return to good health.
Second, I really like your post for the simple reason that I personally believe everyone should always stay positive. Several cases have shown that positivity, while it can’t be scientifically proven to be the cause of health improvement, is involved with the betterment of people’s health.
Are you familiar with the placebo effect? A placebo is a substance that provides zero therapeutic benefit to its subject. It is simply used in experiments for its psychological effect on a subject. Can only the subject’s belief of receiving an actual medicine be enough to cure or even just relieve his or her illness? Well, scientists have put that to the test.
In a single-blind experiment, an experimenter can give a placebo to some subjects and an actual medication to others. The subjects are not aware of which treatment they receive. The placebo, in some cases, has improved subjects’ health. Why is that? Well, people are now beginning to accept the idea that believing something is going to work may actually be the key to getting better. Being positive may be the reason why in some cases people miraculously get better.
Overall I thought your post was interesting; however, I think more research should be added to better support your topic. It was well organized and well written- maybe just add a little more detail about the case you researched.
I thought you might enjoy reading this article that specifically discusses the emergence of placebo treatments in the medical field. What people used to dismiss, is now being taken into strong consideration.
https://www.factscoexist.com/3016012/the-placebo-effect-is-real-now-doctors-just-have-to-work-out-how-to-use-it
I liked reading this post because my mother has always influenced me to stay positive. There is also a common known belief of affirmations. Affirmations are when you can write down or repeat something that you want to do. People say that if you tell yourself enough (or write it down enough) you will actually do it. Do you think that there is a psychological connect between thinking positive and writing/saying affirmations?