About Cancer

Many folks have the mistaken impression that cancer is a dangerous enemy that rarely strikes, but when it does so, it attacks with rapid and lethal power. In fact, researchers agree that cancer cells emerge in our bodies all the time, and are the result of simple errors in the reproduction of normal body cells. In most cases, cells of the immune system, which are well programmed to spot such aberrations, destroy these cancerous cells before they have time to do lasting harm.

Scientists believe that a cancerous cell becomes dangerous only when physical irritants like cigarette smoke in the lungs create a large number of distorted and polluted cells, similar to scar tissue, and sometimes called squamous cells. The immune system cells in this mess of scar tissue and smoke cease to recognize the first cancer cells in this toxic clutter, and in time it's too late for the immune system to destroy them without medical help.

Another possibility is that some cancer cells can wrap themselves in estrogen receptors. This means that the tumor is disguising itself at a biochemical level as an embryo. An embryo is a collection of rapidly growing undifferentiated cells. What saves it from the attack of mother's immune system is its estrogen receptors, which are attracting lots of estrogen, saying to the immune system "Don't hurt me, I'm your baby!"

Scientists are still discovering different chemical signatures by which cancer cells can hide from the ever present immune response. But the frequency of the estrogen receptor in cancer cells suggests it is a common strategy. It also explains why estrogen based hormone therapies always show a significant cancer risk. ( I find it rather interesting that our word Cancer is the astrological sign for the mother.) Patients with compromised immune systems because of age, ill health, or immune system diseases like AIDS are also extremely vulnerable to cancer. But remember that most of have an immune system that is tough enough and smart enough to defeat cancer.

Unfortunately, many cancer treatments, especially chemotherapy and radiation, because they target all of the body's cells that are reproducing, are very destructive to the immune system, because immune cells are constantly reproducing and dying out as they fight infection and destroy tumors. So paradoxically, many cancer treatments damage the very system the body needs to recover from cancer.

In addition, these treatments are so toxic that they produce cancerous in many lab experiments and hospital patients. Nearly all of these chemicals are so dangerous they are labeled as carcinogenic. The big challenge in oncology has been to keep the patient alive through these treatments long enough for the cancer to be destroyed. Some physicians are convinced that the high rate of recurrence for their patients is connected to the high toxicity of these treatments.

Fortunately, great progress is being made in refining these treatments. Dosage reductions, aiming radiation and chemotherapy more precisely at the tumor mass, even hormone based chemotherapy, all have made these treatments safer and more effective than ever.

Even greater strides can be made in cancer treatment, however, can be made if patients are willing to explore and clear the underlying cause of their tumor from the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is obviously the ideal medium for this exploration, because it can be experienced by most people easily, and helps us safely connect to subconscious motivations.

There are three problems however, that are inherent within this process. First, the client must be willing to accept that at least part of the cause of their condition lies in their own subconscious mind. This is a tough journey for many Americans, who are accustomed to taking no responsibility for their health, and might even be offended at the suggestion that something they did may be the cause of this condition.

Empathy requires the health professional to treat these feelings as delicately as possible. I reassure my clients that "YOU didn't do this. Rather this disease is a product of feelings and experiences and beliefs from your distant past, which have become stored in your body. Hypnosis can help us to access these programs and clear them, freeing your immune system to work with your treatment program to stop this cancer."

The second problem is finding a hypnotherapist whose training is sufficient to actually help discover and clear these underlying conditions. Most medical doctors, including psychiatrists, even if they have some familiarity with hypnotic work, have no training in the in-depth strategies required to access the cause and fix it. Even most hypnotherapists have little training in these complex techniques. If you know someone suffering from cancer, get help in finding a trained hypnotherapist experienced in this work.

The final problem is finding medical doctors who are willing to recommend these methods to their patients. It's easy to understand their skepticism. Most doctors have little or no training in psychological causation. And where have the skilled practitioners been whom they could recommend. Should they send their dangerously ill client to some new graduate of a cheap training program who specializes in smoking cessation? No, they need to know someone who has the background and gets results. Meanwhile, don't wait for your physician's endorsement. As one of my former breast cancer patients said to me, triumphantly, "I knew I could heal my breasts and not lose them when I started taking responsibility for my body. I decided that my body and I had made this disease together and we could fix it together!"

So far in several articles, I have described the use of hypnosis in addressing and healing the underlying causes of cancer, thus freeing the immune system, if it isn't too damaged by the disease or medical treatments, to destroy the cancer. But hypnosis can do much more than this as an adjunct to medical treatment. Hypnosis can be used to direct both the cells of the immune system and the agents of chemotherapy to go after the cancer with greater strength. One of my successful clients used hypnosis to direct her body to take all the chemo she was taking directly into the tumor. The doctor's were amazed at how quickly her ovarian cancer responded to the treatment, and how mild her chemo side effects were.

Hypnosis can also be used to rebuild the immune system, and to counter the other effects of chemo, like anemia, nausea, hair loss, etc. Hypnosis can also increase the success and reduce the recovery time from surgery. I've also written on hypnotic anesthesia and surgery. If you are facing the challenge of cancer, only your doctor knows what medical procedures are best. But whatever your Doctor says, use hypnotherapy with a skilled and well trained practitioner and you will vastly increase your chances of not just surviving cancer, but thriving again in a healthy active life. Good luck in your recovery!