Mental training as help and support during cancer

Description

Mental training as help and support during cancer

Training instructions: Each programme needs to be practised at least seven times to be effective. You should start with programme one, but after that, the order doesn't matter. You can do the sleep programme alongside your other training and use it every evening until you no longer need it to get a good night's sleep.

Programme 1. Starting point and goal programming

Intentional change is based on knowing where you are (starting point) and knowing where you want to go (from visions that show the direction to concrete and measurable goals). This programme therefore begins by creating a calm awareness and acceptance that the body contains cancer cells in greater quantities than it has been able to destroy (everyone has cancer cells, but they are dealt with and killed by the body's natural defences – the immune system). In this programme, you will be assisted in observing the cancer cells in a calm and safe state using the ”ORKA” model, which I always use to provide good feedback to the body, whether in sports or cancer. ORKA stands for ”Observe – Register – Acknowledge – Accept” without ”Evaluate and React”. The next step is to inform the body about the goal of the medical and psychological treatment. One of the goals in this case is, of course, to get well. The second goal is to ”Feel Good”. These are two different goals, because you can be Sick and Feel Good or Healthy and Feel Bad. In Mental Training, it has been shown many times that the body is controlled by images. This means that the next step is to create images of the future based on the concepts of being healthy and feeling good. These two images of the future can be combined by selecting a few future situations in which you see yourself functioning in a way that indicates that you are healthy and feeling good. These images are then ”programmed” into the brain during deep relaxation. I have shown in several studies that programmed and integrated images of the future control automated behaviours and bodily processes. Most of the body's functions are automated processes (homeostasis, etc.). This also includes the immune system. Therefore, the content of future images is very important. It has been shown that negative images (e.g., this is the beginning of the end) control the body as much as or even more than positive ones. The main idea behind this programme is therefore that what you really want (to be healthy and feel good) should be converted into target images and then, through programming, influence the body more strongly than the ”fear images” you have of the future.

Programme 2. The ideal healing condition

The body and mind function better or worse depending on the state you are in. For example, there is an ideal performance state, where athletes can relax and ”surrender” to their bodies and achieve high performance (”flow”). Similarly, one can speak of an ideal learning state, decision-making state, relationship state, healing state, etc. Over the last two decades, many studies have shown that the immune system functions less effectively in states of stress and depression. However, the opposite is also true, i.e. that the immune system functions better in connection with positive emotions (e.g. joy), based on fairly recent research (Uneståhl, et al.). Unfortunately, the natural reaction when someone is diagnosed with cancer is stress and depression, which further weakens the immune system, which is so badly needed in the fight against the disease. This programme aims to help you focus on the things in life that create positive emotions, which help the body in its work to destroy cancer cells. The programme also teaches you how to create such emotions yourself. By being in this ”ideal healing state” as often as possible, you help your body while also making your life brighter and improving your well-being.

Programme 3. Strengthening medical treatment

The effect of a treatment, even a medical one, is the sum of the direct (e.g. the medicine) and indirect (placebo) effects. This means that the effect of medical treatment varies depending on the patient's attitude, mindset and expectations (future prospects). This programme aims to maximise the effect of the medical treatment you receive.

Programme 4. Strengthening the body's own defences

Although all programmes (not least programme 2) aim to strengthen the immune system, this programme focuses specifically on this. Ever since American oncologist Carl Siminton published the first trials of ”stimulation and activation of the body's defence cells through visualisation” a couple of decades ago, this method has been the subject of debate. In summary, however, it can be said that the debate has centred on whether the method has any clear positive effects. No side effects or other negative effects have been reported, however, which means that the method is risk-free. If it has any effect, it is positive. It can also be said that experiences and studies from sports have demonstrated clear ideomotor effects (the influence of images on motor skills), and studies with hypnosis have demonstrated similar effects of images” ability to influence the cardiovascular system. This, together with studies on the importance of visualisation in healing sports injuries and the effect of visualisation on increasing the number of lymphocytes, gives every reason to believe that visualisation can also increase the effectiveness of the immune system. In addition, this is the programme where you get to be more active in the fight against the ”enemy", which can have two positive effects in itself.

• The positive feeling of being able to actively participate in cancer treatment instead of just being ”the subject of treatment.".
• To have the opportunity to act out any inherent aggression and then turn one's anger towards the real enemy (cancer).

Programme 5. Good sleep

The fifth and final programme has two completely different purposes. When someone experiences negative stress (often as a result of a cancer diagnosis), this often affects their sleep. Not only can it be difficult to fall asleep, but deep sleep is also often disturbed. Since it is during the first hours of deep sleep that the body gets the rest and recovery it so badly needs, the lack of deep sleep will further impair the efficiency of the body's various systems. If the first purpose has to do with the physiology of sleep, the second purpose relates to the psychological effects of sleep. I am thinking not only of sleep as a spontaneous problem solver and psychological ”cleaning lady,” but also of how night-time sleep and dreams seem to be able to be used for ”targeted problem solving” and ”goal processing.” The programme should be taken in conjunction with falling asleep, as it ends by leading you into a deep, pleasant and refreshing sleep.