The Power of Your Mind in the healing of cancer

About the book

Stand Up and Live!

You don’t have to die from cancer. Many people die unnecessarily and prematurely from this wrong word, which is wrong belief that produces a wrong mindset ~ A Khazam

The insensitivity of scientific medicine to the bad effects of wrong emotions is probably responsible for many failures ~ J.D. Frank

• Belief is a potent medicine. It can generate positive or negative responses in our bodies. A wrong emotional mindset is destructive. Cancer patients are under extreme emotional stress. This emotional mind is conditioned to believe everything and accept any suggestion without hesitation or questioning.

•  When you are told that you have cancer, accept the diagnosis but do not believe the prognosis. Know that the prerogative of living and dying rests with the Almighty God, not men. Doctors give their based on what literature says in terms of statistics. Statistical averages need not necessarily apply to you. You can prove that the statistics are wrong!

• Doctors see only the biological cancer in you. Medicine has long ignored the fact that a person with cancer also suffers from emotional cancer. Emotional cancer is equally serious.

About the author

Chris K. H. Teo. Ph.D. was a former Professor of Botany. In May 1995, he and his wife Beng Im started CA Care. Our mission is to help the hopeless and helpless cancer patients find their healing. When you are told that you have no hope, we believe that there is still hope.

To know more click these links:

https://cancercaremalaysia.com/ (English)

https://cancercareindonesia.com/ (Bahasa Indonesia)

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people. Gal. 6:10

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

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Preview

The Role of the Mind.

Many people may have the misconception that the brain is synonymous with the mind. It is not. A dictionary definition of the brain is that part of the vertebrate central nervous system that constitutes the organ of thought and nervous coordination. On the other hand, the mind is defined as the complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills and especially reasons.

Henri Bergson, a French philosopher said: The mind exceeds the brain and is larger than the body. Our body is only a part of our total existence and our mind is actually bigger and better than the body.

E. Straus said: It is the human being who thinks and not his brain.

One important point to note is that the mind exerts a tremendous influence on the body and controls the ways we behave and perceive things. Read what people say about the mind.

Ralph Emerson said: We become what we think about all day long.

According to Shakespeare: There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

Abraham Lincoln said: People are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.

Separation of Mind and Body by Medical Science

Rene Descartes was a French mathematician and philosopher proposed that the body and the mind are separate entities and that the mind plays no part in the body. To him life is the sole property of the physical body.

Cartesian philosophy regards the human body as a machine that carries out its bodily functions according to physical laws. Descartes and doctors look at the human body like mechanics look at cars – it is just a machine. For that reason, what is faulty or seem to have no known function, can be removed and discarded. So goes your appendix, gall bladder, tonsils, uterus, etc. Doctors remove them without qualms, not realising or appreciating that the part belongs to the whole.

As a result, modern medicine, which is based on Cartesian philosophy, ignores the mind and deals solely with the physical body. Contrary to this, healers of oriental civilisations throughout the ages have held fast to the belief that man is a spiritual being made up of the body, mind and soul.

Today, with the introduction of psychoneuroimmunology into the arena of medicine, the Cartesian philosophy is under attack – for it is inadequate and out-dated.

Today, psychoneuroimmunology has shown that the body’s immune system is not an independent entity that functions without the influence of the mind and human behaviour. The body’s central nervous system (including the brain), the endocrine system (which produces the hormones) and the immune system, are intimately connected and they interact with each other i.e., they talk to each other! What happens in the brain influences the endocrine system and the immune system in various ways.

Similarly, what happens at the level of the immune system or the endocrine system also affects the brain.

Dr. Robert Good, a leader of psychoneuroimmunology said:

• A positive attitude and constructive frame of mind all improve our ability to resist infections, allergies, autoimmune disorders and cancers, whereas depression and pessimism decrease our ability to do so.

Dr. S.I. MacMillen in his book, None of These Diseases, wrote:  

• The mind could produce striking visible changes in the body…that can be

serious and fatal.

Dr. Paul Martin in his book, The Healing Mind, concluded that

• The mind affects our susceptibility to real physical disease by modifying our behaviour or by directly influencing our immune defenses….by means of these psychological and biological mechanisms, the mind really can make us ill.

Power of Belief

Belief is a potent medicine. It can play a key role in generating positive or negative responses in our bodies. A patient going to his doctor must believe that the doctor can give him the best possible help and the drug that he is prescribing is going to work well. The doctor himself must also believe that what he is doing and giving the patient will work. In addition, the interaction of the two reinforces a summation of belief that makes an effective brew for a cure. There must be confidence of a positive outcome based on strong belief. Without belief, a cure is not likely to result.

It is for this reason that we request patients who seek our help to give their full commitment to their healing; they must also believe in the taking of herbs.

Placebo – the Power of Suggestion for Good

For people dealing with medicine, the word placebo may mean many things. I remember what F. K. Yap told me. He brought some rodent tuber plants to show a patient in a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. A young doctor rebuked him, as the efficacy of the plant had not been proven. However, for Yap, this tuber was the very plant that had saved his life and made him cancer free! (Note: this is a classical case of theory vs. practical wisdom). The doctor said: For all that you know, it was just a placebo. This remark means that the curative effects of the tuber are not real and are just a matter of suggestion to the emotional mind. When said in the context of traditional medicine, the remark may also imply fraud, bluff, imagination or even an attempt to cheat or take you for a ride.

Placebo means to please in Latin. When patients come to see their doctors, chances are that they will respond to the doctors’ treatment, as long as they believe in the doctors and their drugs.

The drugs could only be sugar pills or mere plain water. They still work!

Let us go back to the case of the rodent tuber plants taken by Yap. His statement that the plants helped and cured him, is in fact a powerful suggestion. Even if there is nothing much in the rodent tuber, it may still help the patient if he believes in what Yap says. But the learned doctor was upset and said it was simply a placebo. But a more enlightened mind may wish to ponder much harder and deeper – what is so wrong with a placebo effect? If it helped Yap with his cancer and if it can help

others as well, let placebo be the medicine. Indeed, medical literature recognises this placebo effect and encourages it.

Many people like to point out that taking herbs is taking a placebo – a figment of the imagination. I am saying to all sceptics that taking herbs is NOT a placebo. The effect is real. If the herbs have a placebo effect, then all the better. Effectiveness and the placebo effect combined make an effective brew and can give a miraculous result. An herbalist or healer who is knowledgeable would treat a placebo as a friend and take advantage of its benefits.

Nocebo – the Power of Suggestion for Evil

While the word placebo is known to many people, the word nocebo is rarely heard of. The nocebo effect is the negative counterpart of the placebo. This word is derived from Latin meaning inflicting damage. As explained earlier, mere thoughts and emotions can generate very real physical reactions which can bring about positive (placebo) or negative (nocebo) effects. Indeed, these two are the same phenomena but have opposite results. The same requirement of belief is required to bring

out their effects.

Voodoo or Bone-pointing

One good example of a nocebo is voodoo, a ritual practised by the aboriginal tribes of Africa,

South America, the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, etc. A witch doctor can put a curse on a person in the community by chanting and pointing a bone at him.

Death is expected to come in no time. For a voodoo curse to become a reality, the following must

happen:

1.  The victim must believe that the witch doctor who is pointing the bone at him has that magical power to harm him.

2.  The victim must feel that he is totally powerless to do anything to save himself from this curse. This attitude of helplessness is essential.

3.  The members of the tribe to which he belongs, e.g., the family, friends, etc. need to exert social pressure and reinforce his belief that he is helpless and going to die because of the curse. He becomes a social outcast and is abandoned by both friends and family. They treat him as if he is already dead. He feels obliged to die.

Voodoo death is psychogenic death. Psychogenic means brought about by the mind.

Voodoo Death in Cancer Patients

While witch doctors are found in the uncivilised parts of the world, do you think such a voodoo culture is not found in the civilised countries? Let us analyse the following two liver cancer cases.

Story 1

Gan was a 62-year-old male. A CT scan showed a 9 x 10.5 x 9 cm mass in segments 4 and 8 of

the liver. The doctor said Gan had heptocellular carcinoma. Subsequently, he was referred to a university hospital for further treatment but he did not follow up with that. He came to see us and opted for herbs instead. Gan responded well to the herbs. After a week, his appetite increased. He slept well throughout the night while previously he had disturbed sleep and woke up every hour of the night. He felt more alert or cheng sin. His facial expression showed that he looked much better than before. The mid-night fevers had also disappeared.

Gan had the option of going for surgery or other medical interventions which he had declined from the very beginning. Looking at it from a positive viewpoint, Gan did not fare that badly compared

to those who opted for medical treatments. Many who had surgery died soon afterwards, while others developed more tumours in their liver. There is no certainty. What is certain about the outcome of such cases is its uncertainty.

Story 2

Dan was a 55-year-old man. He multiple enhancing nodules throughout the liver. The largest of these measure 12 cm across and lies in Segment 5. Dense fluid is also seen surrounding the liver.

Appearances are probably due to a multicentric hepatoma with bleeding from the largest tumour.  A tru-cut biopsy confirmed a well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma.

The doctor told the family members that Dan had only three to twelve months to live. Dan and his family came to seek our help. We prescribed liver herbs. After one week on the herbs, Dan reported that he had mild pains. He was able to sleep without having to take the tranquilliser anymore. His breathing was better. The evening fevers had lessened. Before taking the herbs the evening fevers usually lasted for three to four hours and his temperature was around 39C. After taking the herbs,

the fevers lasted for one or two hours only and the temperature was around 37.5C.

After two weeks on the herbs, Dan reported further improvements. He had no more pains. His breathing had improved and he also slept well. He felt more alert or cheng sin. On some evenings, he either had no fever or when he had them, his temperature was only about 37C.

Dan has been on the herbs for almost four months now and he was doing well. Then, barely a month later, Dan came again and was feeling rather down. He had spent time surfing the Internet and learnt that his cancer is fatal. He was depressed and this new information made him feel dejected the whole week. As William Oslo said, survival largely depends on what is going on in the head. I suspected that Dan was under a voodoo curse. He knew that his cancer was serious and he only had

three to twelve months to live. Though he benefited from the consumption of the herbs, he still felt hopeless and unsure of the outcome. He once told me: I am alright and feel great on the outside, but I don’t know what is happening inside me. His family members also told me that Dan worried too much. In spite of all the improvements he experienced from taking the herbs, his daughter told me that Dan was just hoping that he could live for another two months, by which time his son would have finished college. He looked forward to his successful graduation and then he was ready to die. No matter how much I assured him that he was going to be alright, he still remained sceptical.