What is ME/CFS? And how can Open Mind help me?
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| ME/CFS Who do you trust? |
ME/CFS presents a conundrum to the current biomedical model of illness. It's
neither in the body, nor in the mind. Conventional approaches fail to identify a unifying philosophy to enable the sufferer
to be treated as a whole. ME/CFS as an illness is currently categorised as a neurological disorder, though it's
had it's visits with psychology and immunology as well.
My approach at Open Mind differs entirely to anything
conventionally available. Neither separating nor constraining both mind and body into one limiting category,
I aim to conceptalise the human being in his entirety. That means the recovery from this condition needs to be
treated on all levels including, mental, emotional, physical and indeed, spiritual. In my opinion, to omit
one of these is to fail to understand what contributes to the onset of disease.
The Mind/Body Link
Latest
scientific research in the field of Psychoneuroimmunology is looking at the way in which emotions affect the immune system
and how, with a compromised immune system, the body chooses to respond. For many of us in alternative methods of healing,
this new avenue of scientific enquiry is a breath of fresh air. The day is dawning when conventional medicine will embrace
the human being in their entirety and not as a dislocated collection of symptoms affecting various individuals randomly.
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| Fed up with dead ends? |
When I say, "the body chooses to respond" the question I ask myself is
"why does a person who feels under attack from their environment develop a condition like ME?" or "Why does
a person with multiple forms of physical disease suddenly spontaneously heal after understanding their emotional trauma?"
It is my belief that the body chooses to respond to emotional events in ways that equate with the impact of the event.
Lower back problems reveal a feeling of lack of support, throat problems reveal an emotional 'lump in the throat'
and so on.
It has been demonstrated to me over and again, that where conventional medicine stops on the physical plane, our
approach at Open Mind takes healing further to levels of emotional and spiritual health that link directly with physical symptoms.
Given that we are an organic whole, what sense is there in complicating things by separating the body from the mind?
GPs in our
locality are already turning to us with patients who they are no longer able to help. Many are healing and with
impressive results. This collaboration between the medical establishment and Open Mind is the beginning of a new union
between the scientific and the emotional and spiritual being. If you are seriously looking for solutions to your
own ME/CFS I would be happy to invite you to join in with this movement. Book your sessions with me on 01371 859994 or just call me for an informal chat to check out what I can do for
you. Alternatively you can download my FREE report on finding the right therapist for you on the home page which adds you to my newsletter. As a range of products becomes available
you will be the first ones to hear about them. You will also receive hints and tips on a range of mind-body and personal
development issues to help you conceptualise your new way of looking at your condition.
Alternatively, I have trained a therapists
across the UK to treat CFS. Go to my therapists page on The Open Mind Guide to see if you can find one near to you.
How does Integrative
Therapy and Hypnotherapy work with ME/CFS?
Hypnotherapy works well due to the way it works beneath the conscious reality of sufferers
of ME. I have noticed in my work that ME paradoxically effects those who are by nature extremely conscientious
and socially conscious people. The disease we call ME then produces the very fear that people of this broad profile
can least tolerate: that is, allegations or assumptions such as "it's all in the mind", "it's just
a bit of tiredness", "it's not a real disease", "if we can't explain it physically, it must
be a psychiatric disease process". This fear often means the wall to the subconscious remains firmly in place
and cannot be bypassed easily by usual talking therapies. Once bypassed, however, with hypnosis, the ME sufferer learns
to see what they need to do to help themselves heal.
The sufferers I have treated tend to be generally very suspiscious of people misunderstanding
their condition, making wrong assumptions, and failing to understand the true extent of their disease. Conventional
treatment, because of it's one-size-fits-all nature is often also regarded suspiscously. Conventional approaches
using CBT, graded exercise and pacing, have very limited success. According to the The Chief Medical Officer's
Working Group Report on CFS/ME working groups, of those severely affected only 7% said that CBT helped, 67% said it made no
difference and 26% said it made their symptoms worse. The only figures currently available, they are staggeringly unimpressive.
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| Reflect deeply |
Clinical treatment is only one part of the equation. The balancing of all
elements of the mind, body and spirit, completes the rest of the equation. Treatment needs to be deeply personal
and relevant to the sufferer. It needs to take account of each person's unique presentation. It needs to recognise
the individual behind the syndrome.
However, our cartesian either/or culture that exists through conventional medical practice
is failing to address the true nature of disease, and in particular, the disease of CFS/ME. Sufferers are neither suffering
from a physical nor an emotional disorder, but rather, a disorder spanning mental, emotional, physical and spiritual elements.
And there is no NHS department for that.
Nevertheless, conventional medicine is now developing a strand known as PNI or PsychoNeuroImmunology
which looks at the effect of our thoughts and feelings on our immunity though it is still largely unaccepted and unacceptable
to the mainstream medical culture which still strives to see things through an either/or telescope. And moreover, in
its research stage, has currently little practical application.
The conditions for health need to be created by readjusting
our beliefs about our place in our world, supporting our body with the best possible foods and supplements and removing the
stigma associated with illness that has no one provable cause as is the case with ME.
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| Look to a brighter future |
There is always a subconscious motivation to our conscious life whoever we happen
to be. Becoming aware of our deepest beliefs and how poorly they serve us can cause us to reevaluate our lives and "to
wake up". Many whom I have treated only become aware of their subconscious motivations, and therefore empowered, through
the process of hypnosis.
Many who recover from ME report a spiritual awakening and practices such as meditation and yoga as pivotal parts
of their recovery. Hypnosis is like active meditation - that is with the experienced hypnotherapist, you are guided
through your own personal and private meditations which help you get in touch with what you need to know to heal. So
you can start to look forward to a brighter future.
Speak to Jenny direct on 01371 859994 aims to encourage psychotherapists and hypnotherapists to work alongside conventional medical practice, teaching GP's
how to identify ME more quickly from a brief mental and emotional assessment complementing their knowledge of the physical
markers for this condition.
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