The Incredible Power of your Mind
Do you believe that your mind has the power to heal you? Research suggests that it does.
Recently I’ve been reading a book called How your Mind can Heal your Body by David R. Hamilton, PhD. It’s amazing to learn how powerful our minds can be. The placebo effect has always fascinated me. When drug companies test a new medication, they are required to see if the medication works any better than giving the patient a substance that looks identical to the medication, but contains no active ingredients. During my physician assistant training, I was astounded to learn that a placebo inhaler could stop an asthma attack. How could that be? An asthma attack could be life-threatening and is a clear example of an absolutely real condition taken seriously by anyone in the medical profession. In his book, Dr. Hamilton describes those studies I learned about. An inhaler with no active ingredient could stop an asthma attack if the patient believed that it contained medication. Conversely, if the patient was told the same inactive inhaler contained an allergen, it could trigger an asthma attack. The take-home message here is that your mind can make your body sick and your mind can also heal you, whether or not you have Functional Neurological Disorder. Our minds are involved in everything we do.
One study that has always intrigued me is sometimes referred to as the “nun study”. Nuns tend to be generous and giving, so they were very cooperative with the scientists studying them and donated their brains to be examined after their deaths. A fascinating finding was that the condition of the brain after death did NOT always correlate with the function of the mind during life. Sister Mary in the nun study is my hero. When she finally succumbed to colon cancer at the age of 101, her brain was found to be full of lesions characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. In spite of this, her cognitive function up to the time of her death was remarkably intact.
Like Sister Mary, we don’t necessarily have to live under the curse of a defective brain. There is an astonishing amount of resilience in our brains. What if we can learn to harness the power of our minds to overcome whatever glitch is in our FND brain? I am not nearly as concerned about what they find in my brain at autopsy as I am with what my brain is capable of doing today!
Many people with a diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder are convinced that it is due to a physical problem in the brain. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not, but maybe it doesn’t matter. Does the belief that you have a brain defect keep you “stuck” with your symptoms? Do you believe that you are powerless to change them? What if the power to change your symptoms lies within you? The more that we believe that we are in control of what happens to us and the less that we look outside ourselves for a cure, the more likely it is that we can get better. Studies showing changes in the brains of FND patients can’t identify if those changes cause FND or if they are a result of living with the disorder. Whether or not there is an identifiable issue may not matter. We are more than our physiology.
Let’s talk about how we can influence our minds to promote recovery. Do you recognize a feeling or sensation in your body that leads to a symptom? Perhaps it is a heaviness in your legs that keeps you from walking, or a tingling in your arm that precipitates a seizure. What are the thoughts that you have about that sensation? For me, I can remember those feelings and the thoughts of ”Uh-oh, here it comes. This feeling always leads to (insert symptom here).”. You may need to spend some time uncovering those thoughts. Sometimes they are buried in so many layers that they become automatic and you don’t even realize that they are there.
When you feel a symptom arising, stop and ask yourself, “What are my thoughts and beliefs about what is happening?” It might be helpful to write those thoughts down, then address them. Are the thoughts true? How do you know? Could there be another explanation? Is there another thought that might produce a better outcome for me? For example, now when I get that heavy, dragging-leg feeling, I notice it, but don’t give the feeling too much power. Everyone gets feelings like that, but some research has shown that those of us with Functional Neurological Disorder may notice those things more than other people, over-focus on those sensations, or believe that the sensation means more than it actually does. Instead of going down the road to dysfunction, I notice the feeling, but I don’t assume that it means that my legs are about to give out like I once did. The sensation may mean that I need to rest, something I’m not always good about doing. Maybe it means nothing. Our bodies have millions of sensations every day, some we notice, some we don’t. If you are someone who tends to over-notice things, it might be helpful to have a plan to take your mind off of the feelings. Try reading something that interests you, maybe work on a project like knitting or crocheting; coloring or painting can be a relaxing distraction.
Another strategy for recovery is through the use of mental imagery. Athletes use this technique to help them perform optimally. Whatever symptom you struggle with, spend time throughout the day relaxing and visualizing your body performing the correct way. After spending time with this mental exercise, practice the movement you have visualized. Think about smooth, fluid movement. It may take time, but this technique can be very helpful.
Meditation can seem intimidating to some people, or a bit too weird to others, but really all it means is that you can learn to change the state of your mind. Now that I have worked on my recovery for a few years, I can recognize when my over activated FND brain is showing up and immediately enter my learned “calm state”. In the future I hope to make some recordings to help you learn to achieve this state, but for now, try a free app like “Calm” or a YouTube video of a guided meditation. Learning to achieve a healthy, neutral state of mind is one of the keys to overcoming your FND. It takes some practice, but it’s achievable and it will make a world of difference in learning to control your “twitchy” nervous system.
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