Healing Without Fear: How to overcome your fear of Doctors, Hospitals, and the Health Care System and find your Way to True Healing
by Laurel Ann Reinhardt, PhD; Foreword by James Jealous, DO
Healing Arts Press, One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767 USA; www.InnerTraditions.com
paperback, 2002, $14.95, 175 pp.
After turning to alternative medicine for more effective help for her asthma, the author relates how, when faced with a lump in her breast, she felt a terrible fear rising up that sent her running back to an allopathic doctor. After waiting ten days for the results of her mammogram, by the time she saw the surgeon again, the fear had taken over and she was not able to take the time to make a decision that was not fear-based. Fortunately, it was a holiday and she couldn’t be scheduled for biopsy for some time. Because of the delay, she was able to think more clearly and finally decided to try alternatives (herbs and dietary recommendations) first. By the time she saw the surgeon again, the lump was gone.
Her doctor was as restricted by fear as she was — fear of being sued, fear of the medical board, etc. Even if we begin without fear, the author says, “the field in a doctor’s office or hospital is often palpable, and can induce that fear in us. Our society has become extremely fearful about health concerns, most of the fear being fed by pharmaceutical ads on TV, medical news, and government recommendations for screening, tests, etc. The author says “There is a collusion of silence, fear, and disempowerment of ourselves and each other that creates a morphic field of fear surrounding the Western health care system in general, and some illnesses, such as cancer and AIDS, in particular.”
The morphic field of fear which surrounds the practice of Western medicine is created by the following:
by Laurel Ann Reinhardt, PhD; Foreword by James Jealous, DO
Healing Arts Press, One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767 USA; www.InnerTraditions.com
paperback, 2002, $14.95, 175 pp.
After turning to alternative medicine for more effective help for her asthma, the author relates how, when faced with a lump in her breast, she felt a terrible fear rising up that sent her running back to an allopathic doctor. After waiting ten days for the results of her mammogram, by the time she saw the surgeon again, the fear had taken over and she was not able to take the time to make a decision that was not fear-based. Fortunately, it was a holiday and she couldn’t be scheduled for biopsy for some time. Because of the delay, she was able to think more clearly and finally decided to try alternatives (herbs and dietary recommendations) first. By the time she saw the surgeon again, the lump was gone.
Her doctor was as restricted by fear as she was — fear of being sued, fear of the medical board, etc. Even if we begin without fear, the author says, “the field in a doctor’s office or hospital is often palpable, and can induce that fear in us. Our society has become extremely fearful about health concerns, most of the fear being fed by pharmaceutical ads on TV, medical news, and government recommendations for screening, tests, etc. The author says “There is a collusion of silence, fear, and disempowerment of ourselves and each other that creates a morphic field of fear surrounding the Western health care system in general, and some illnesses, such as cancer and AIDS, in particular.”
The morphic field of fear which surrounds the practice of Western medicine is created by the following:
- The personal fears we each have about pain, illness, disability, life, and death
- The fears of doctors that we assimilate, sometimes called “white coat fever”
- Doctors’ fears of making mistakes, failing their patients, or being sued
- Fear-based methods of teaching and practicing medicine
- Financial fears of patients, doctors, insurance companies, and the government
- Fear-based sales tactics of insurance companies and advertisers
- Fears engendered by media reports on health care topics
- Fears of loss of power and control
- Fears of the unknown
1 comments:
If I have to deal with a major medical crisis, and I have had a couple thus far in my life, I want all possible resources available to me - allopathic, complementary, alternative etc. When I had surgery and treatment for thyroid cancer 15 years ago, I chose to have surgery and radioactive iodine treatment but I also saw a CMD (doctor of Chinese medicine) for acupuncture and herbs to support my body's healing. I think there is wisdom in all the traditions.
Fear does play a big role in medicine, and again I speak from personal experience. Part of the healing process is regaining a sense of balance about illness and its role in your life, and letting go of the control that it has over you. I realized a number of years into my life with cancer that I could choose to get on with my life, or I could continue to let my identity as a person with cancer dominate my thinking/feeling.
My own experience with illness is a big part of why I am now training to become a healthcare provider (I'm a student at the University of Vermont http://learn.uvm.edu/hm/).
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