Re: Listening to the Body

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your insights here, Kim, and they are far from " boring. " I'm glad

your mother is so supportive and that she suggested the seminar and went

with you. I wholeheartedly agree that support groups and writing about our

problems are quite beneficial. I am very happy that people are researching

and reporting these phenomena. I'm so glad I found you and everyone here. I

just hope more physicians start to get a clue about what we need.

>

> On another subject, my Mom (who is an educator) asked me to go with her to

a

> seminar on, " Listening to the Body, " which was about how tightly the mind

> and body are connected. There is way too much info to include here, but

the

> bottom line was he went through the scientific proof of dramatic physical

> changes (both good and bad) in reaction to emotions/thoughts. One thing

> that I really found interesting was how beneficial support groups are and

> how important it is to discuss what is bothering us in words, or language.

> Reason being, it forces us to take the time to analyze the problems,

> identify the issues, and put some kind of continuity to it, by taking a

> large problem and breaking it down into small pieces to discuss it. In

his

> words, " It seems it is not emotional expression itself that is healthy,

but

> rather when emotional and cognitive components are facilitated through

> language into an improved view of the world. "

>

> Anyway, I immediately thought of this group and how beneficial it has been

> to me.

>

> But even more astounding, was this quote: " Recently, writing has been

> demonstrated to produce physician assessed symptom reduction in people

with

> asthma or rheumatoid arthritis. " He included the following in his

> bibliography to support this statement. Smyth, J., Stone, A., Hurewitz,

A.,

> & Kaell, A. (1999). Writing about stressful events produces symptom

> reducationb in asthmatics and rheumatoid arthritics: A randomized trial.

> Journal of the American Medical Association, 281, 1304-1309. Again, this

is

> one of those things I have not had time yet to research.

>

> Anyway, sorry if this bored you, but I was so excited about what I learned

> that I wanted to share. Thanks for listening.