Is the naming of disease harmful?

In conventional medicine great importance is placed on giving a name or disease template to the list of symptoms a patient presents. This is done so the healer can prescribe a treatment plan that is believed to best treat the underlying illness.

Without such a diagnosis, conventional medicine is generally unable to make any treatment recommendations to the patient.

From a mind-based medicine viewpoint the naming of dis-ease patterns in the body is seen as potentially highly disadvantageous. This is because any identification by the patient with a previously described disease pattern may only aid in fixating their mind upon the diagnosed condition and its expected progression. Such a fixation may make any movement away from existing conditions more difficult than it would otherwise be.

Instead of being overly concerned with physical symptoms, mind-based medicine is focused on what mental, emotional and behavioral issues are leading to the creation of disease in the body. This is based on the belief that disease is a creation of mental forces that are in our control, rather than by mysterious physical processes we have no control over, as we are schooled to believe.

By tackling the underlying psychological causes, and their resulting behavioral patterns, the mental issues that have been leading to imbalance in the body are diminished or eliminated allowing the body to return to its natural state of well-being!

Note: This does not mean that we cannot use the naming of disease to our advantage in cases where it is believed there is an effective treatment for that named disease.  Such a belief in a treatment can be a very useful force to harness in helping the patient return to health.  But if the diagnosis results in the belief that the patient will only get worse or that there is no effective treatment then such a diagnosis may be worse than none as it results in a depressed mental state and worsening physical condition.  I should also mention that is a disease state is caused by the patients ongoing mental state then any psychical intervention will result in short term gains before unhealthy thinking practices result in more physical imbalances to emerge.

Of course, many people will find it easier to take a pill or have an operation than to change mental patterns that have been built up over years.  But if unhealthy mental patterns continue then ill health will return, in one form or another!

Sharka Todd

See also: Well-being is the natural state and Moving beyond seeing the body as a machine

DISCLAIMER: These ideas are controversial and are not accepted by all in the medical establishment.  For legal reasons I must advocate that if pain persists see a doctor!