The Healing power of Belief
For the past two years,I have been studying cancer survivors at UGLA,trying to find out why it is that some people respond much better to their treatment than do others.At first I though that some patients did well because their illnesses were not as severe as the illnesses of others.On closer scrutiny,however,I discovered that severity of the illness was only one of a number of factors that accounted for the difference between those who get well and those who don’t .The patients i am talking about here received upon diagnosis whatever therapy medication,radiation,surgery-their individual cases demanded.Yet the response to such treatments was hardly uniform.Some patients fared much better in their therapies than others.
在过去的两年里，我一直在UGLA研究癌症幸存者，试图发现为什么对有些人治疗产生的效果会比其他人好。
以开始我认为一些人治疗效果好是因为他们的疾病没有别人眼中。
但是经过进一步的仔细观察，我发现导致有些人康复而有些人则没有的因素有很多，而疾病的严重程度只是其中一个。
我所说的这些病人一诊断出来就接受了几乎任何个人病历中需要的治疗，包括药物治疗，放射疗法，外科治疗。
但是他们对这些治疗产生的反映几乎都是不一致的。
一些病人比另一些病人在治疗过程中进展要快得多。
What was it,then,that was different?Was there any one thing that all survivors had in common?Yes.I have found that the major characteristics of these survivors were very similar.Among the similarities are:
They all had a strong will to live
They were not panicky about their illness
They had confidence in their ability to persevere
Despite all the forecasts to the contrary,they believed they could make it
They were capable of joyous response
They were convinced that their treatment would work.
那么到底是什么不同呢？有没哪一点是所有幸存者共有的呢？是的，我发现所有这些幸存者的主要特征非常相似：
他们都有着非常强的求生欲望；
他们都不对自己的疾病感到恐慌；
他们有信心自己有能力坚持；
不论所有的预测多么不利，他们都相信他们能成功；
他们能够很欢乐地应对治疗；
他们相信他们的治疗会起作用。
One woman with whom I worked closely is perhaps symbolic of the entire group.Let’s call her Annie.Her illness was diagnosed as cancer of the liver.An exploratory operation convinced the surgeons that the disease was too far along to be treated by any known means.But Annie,far from being discouraged or depressed by this verdict,was absolutely determined to overcome her illness.She decided to fight with all of her powers of mind and body.Her family physician was so impressed with her spirit that he felt the dismal prediction of the specialists ought not to preclude further efforts.Very supportive,he encouraged Annie to see a surgeon in Houston who had a high record of success with patients who had a strong will to live and a confident attitude.The surgeon’s name was John Stehlin.
一个和我密切合作的女士可能是这一整群人的一个典型。
让我们称她为安妮，。
她的病被诊断为肝癌。
经过一个探究手术，医生们确信她的病不可能被任何已知的手段治愈。
但是安妮一点也没有因为这个裁决而沮丧和气馁，非常坚定地要战胜她的疾病。
她决定用她全部的身
心力量去与之战斗。
她的家庭医生被她的精神深深打动了，他认为专家们的悲观的预测不应该阻碍她的进一步努力。
他非常支持安妮，鼓励安妮去休斯顿看一个医生，那位医生在治愈有着很强求生欲望和有信心的态度的病人方面很成功。
那个医生的名字叫js。
Annie went to Houston and was interviewed by Dr.Stehlin.She visited the floor in St.Josephs Hospital where Dr.S’s patients were cared for.Instead of a gloom white hospital setting,she found a cheerful,animated,attractive series of rooms,the largest of which was called the Living Room.It was equipped with easy chairs,reading corners,and alcoves for audio video machines,containing a large array of tape cassettes of some of the funniest motion pictures ever produced.Dr. S installed the sets and obtained the cassettes after reading article I wrote for the New England Journal of Medicine on the therapeutic valued of laughter.He had always believed that hopefulness and laughter go together.People who are capable of experiencing joy,he discovered,were much better candidates for successful surgery and therapy than those who were morbid and apprehensive.
安妮到休斯顿后与s医生进行了面谈。
她圣约瑟芬医院餐馆了s医生的病人被照看的那个楼层。
取代了阴暗的白色的医院陈设，她发现的是一个振奋人心，很有生气并且很吸引人的一套房间，其中最大的那个是起居室。
起居室里装了舒服的椅子，读书角，还有一个放音响设备的壁橱，里面有一大批一些最有趣的动画片的录像带。
S医生在读了我写给英国药物期刊的有关笑声对治疗的作用的文章之后，安装了这些设备，购买了这些录像带。
他一直相信希望和笑声是互相协调的。
他发现能够体验快乐的人比那些恐惧和忧虑的人治愈的机会要大得多。
After spending only 15 minutes with Dr.s.Annie felt uplifted and thrilled by the atmosphere of the place.She met with patients who had come through even greater ordeals than her own.Dr.s examined Annie and studied her medical record.Then he told her he would be willing to operate and give her the best possible-but only if she had complete confidence in herself,in him,and in the operation.He suggested that she return home to think about it.
在和s医生共度了仅仅十五分钟之后，安妮因为这里的气氛而感到精神高涨和兴奋。
她见到了一些比她自己经历过更大的病痛折磨的病人。
S医生检查了安妮并查看了她的治疗记录。
然后他告诉安妮他愿意给她做手术并且给她治愈的最大可能，但是需要安妮对他和她自己，还有手术都有足够的信心。
他建议她回家再考虑一下。
Annie did,but there wasn’t much to think about.She was eager to proceed.When she returned to Houston,it was obvious to Dr.s that she was strongly motivated.He operated and removed 70% of her liver.Nevertheless,Annie’s,convalescence at St.Joseph’s was rapid.She was caught up in a powerful.affirmative atmosphere.today,three years later,she is active and free of symptoms.Annie and Dr.s know the odds of that there are probably other pockets of cancer throughout her body.But her condition has stabilized.She is a happy,functioning human being.
安妮考虑了，但其实并没有什么好想的。
她愿意继续前进。
当她回到休斯顿，s医生很明显的知道安妮非常有动力。
他给她做了手术，摘除了她肝脏的70%。
尽管如此，安妮在圣约瑟芬的康复非常迅速。
她在一个有力和肯定的氛围中赶上来了。
如今三年过去了，她非常有活力，并且没有任何病症。
安妮和s医生都知道她全身可能还有其他癌细胞，但是她的情况非常稳定，她很开心，身体运作很好。
At the school of medicine of the university of California,Los Angeles,I have been trying to find out if emotions affect the chemistry of the human body.for several decades,the term “psychosomatic” has been in general use.It means mind body relationship.But the precise way the mind affects the body has not been clearly defined.As the result of recent research,however,it is possible to say that specific changes take place throughout the body as the result of human
attitudes.
在洛杉矶加利福利亚大学的医学院，我试图找出情绪是否影响人体的化学反应。
过了几十年，心理影响这个词语已经被广为使用。
它意味着意识和身体是相联系的。
但是意识影响身体的准确方式仍然没有被清楚的定义出来。
但是根据现在的研究，可以说人都态度会导致人的全身发生一种特殊的变化。
Indeed,Dr. Richard Bergland,a brain researcher at the Harvard Medical School,has written a paper suggesting that the human brain is basically a gland.Building on this view,Dr.Carmine Clemente,director of the Brain Research Institute at UGLA,has been looking into the secretions of the brain.He has estimated that there may be thousands of such secretions-all of which play a part in the functioning of the body.
的确，哈佛医学院的一个大脑研究员RB教授写过一篇论文，认为人的大脑基本上就是一个腺体。
基于这一观点，GULA的大脑研究协会主管CC教授一直在观察大脑的分泌物。
他估算可能有数以千计的这种分泌物，每一种都人身体的一部分的运作起作用。
What to me is most fascinating of all about these secretions is that they are not locked away or completely removed from the conscious intelligence.It is true that the mind has no ongoing awareness of the numberless functions generated by te brain-the beating of the heart,the actions of the nerve cells,the functions of all the glands.But the fact that we have no direct knowledge of these functions as they occur does not mean that we are barred from any supervision over them.The significance of biofeedback-a term used to describe the ability of the mind to enter into the workings of the body-is that human beings may actually be able to exert increasing control over themselves and may be able to play an important role in overcoming illness.
对我来说，所有这些分泌物最吸引人的地方在于他们并不是被锁起来或者和主观意识完全分离开来的。
主观意识的确没有觉察到由大脑正在产生的不计其数活动-心脏的跳动，神经细胞的活动，以及所有腺体的运作。
但是我们并不直接的知道这些运作并不代表我们不能够管理他们。
生物反馈这一术语用来被形容意识参与身体运作的能力，它的重要性在于它使人类可能对他们自己有着越来越多的控制并且可能能够在克服疾病的过程中扮演重要的角色。
Numerous medical reports now cite instances in which individuals have been able to direct their bodies in ways generally believed to be beyond the reach of the conscious intelligence.At the UGLA school of medicine,I witnessed a demonstration in which a man controlled his own heartbeat.He could speed it up or slow it almost to a stop merely by concentrating.Such a performance is not unknown in Eastern cultures,but it was startling,to say the least,to see much a demonstration in an American medical school,with a dozen or more physicians as fascinated observers of this use of biofeedback.Patients are using biofeedback techniques at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka,Kansas and at other medical centers as a means of relieving their migraine headaches or lowering their blood pressure.The evidence is incontrovertible that chemical changes take place in the body as a result of mental functions or moods.
现在不计其数的医学报告举出了这种例子，个人能够通过通常所认为的主观意识达不到的方式指挥自己的身体。
在UGLA医学院，我见证了一个男人证明了自己可以控制自己的心跳。
他可以仅仅通过集中注意力加速心跳或者减慢到几乎停止的程度。
这种表演在东方文明并不陌生，但是和十二位甚至更多的对生物反馈这种用法非常着迷的医师共同在一个美国的医学院观看这个证明，至少说明它的确非常令人惊愕，
This mind-body effect should not be surprising in view of the experience over the years with placebos.The term “placebo” is used to describe a “pill” that contains no medical ingredients but that often produces the same effect as genuine medication.Placebos provide ample proof that
expectations can have an effect on body chemistry.According to a recent article on placebos in Medical Word News,studies conducted over the past 25 years shown that placebos satisfactorily relieved symptoms in an average of 35 percent of patients tested.These symptoms include:fever,severe postoperative pain,anginal pain headache,and anxiety,among other complaints.The explanation for this strange phenomenon is that the human mind can create actual changes in body chemistry as a result of what is believes.If,for example,a person believes that a certain medication contains a substance that can accomplish a specific need,the body tends to move in that direction.
其实从已经进行了多年的安慰剂实验的角度，这种身心效应其实并不应该令人吃惊。
安慰剂这一术语用来形容一种不含有药物成分的“药片”，但是通常会和真正的治疗起到相同的效果。
安慰剂提供了充足的证据证明期望会影响人体的化学变化。
根据最近医学世界新闻上的一篇文章，过去25年的研究显示平均35%的被试患者安慰剂能够令人满意地缓解症状。
这些症状包括发烧，严重的术后镇痛，心绞痛，头痛以及紧张等其他疾病。
对这种奇怪现象的解释是人的意识可以根据自己相信的东西对身体产生实际作用。
例如，如果有个人相信某些药包括一种能够满足特殊需要的物质，那么身体往往会朝那个方向变化。
An increasing number of scientists now contend that the body’s healing system and its belief system are closely related.That is why hope,faith,and the will to live can be vital factors in the war against disease.the belief system are closely related.That is why hope,faith,and the will to live can be vital factors in war against disease.The belief system converts positive expectations into plus factors in any contest against illness.
越来越多的科学家主张身体的康复系统和它的信念系统紧密相连。
这就是为什么希望、信念以及意志可以成为与疾病斗争中至关重要的因素。
在任何与疾病的斗争中，信念系统将积极的期望转换成正面的因素。
Another crucial factor that influences the system of belief and healing is the attitude of the physician.One of a doctor’s main functions is to engage to the fullest the patient’s own ability to mobilize the forces of mind and body in turning back disease.The patient’s belief in the judgment and healing power of the physician is often more important than the treatment itself in reversing the course of the illness.Dr.Herbert Benson,an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and author of The Mind-Body Effect,believes that a doctor’s “caring”about his or her patient causes specific physiological improvement.In Annie’s case,for example,she had a very supportive family physician plus the enlightened Dr.s,who was very aware that encouragement and a positive attitude can be all-important.
另一个影响信念系统和康复系统的决定性的因素是医生的态度。
医生的主要功能之一就是最大限度的致力于用病人自己的能力调动起生理和心理的力量来缓解疾病。
病人对医生的判断和治愈能力的信任常常比逆转疾病进程的治疗本身更重要。
哈佛医学院的副教授，身心效应的作者HB博士相信医生对病人的“关心”会产生特殊的生理改善作用。
例如，在安妮的案例中，她有一个非常支持她的家庭医生和明智的s医生，s医生对鼓励和一个积极的态度会产生非常重要的作用这一点非常清楚。
People who are seriously ill need to believe that they have a chance.They respond not just to the doctor’s attitude but to the mood of the people very close to them.If hope is missing from the eyes and from the voices of their families,the absence will be felt.I feel that in the future there will be more and more programs in which caring professionals will help patients and their families to cope and to support the ill person each other.
病的非常严重的病人需要相信他们仍有机会。
他们不仅仅会回应医生的态度，也会回应与自
己非常亲近的人的情绪。
如果希望从他们家人的眼中和声音中消失了，他们会感受到这种缺失。
我感到未来会有越来越多的项目出现让专业看护人员帮助病人和他们的家人解决问题以及帮助病人和家人互相支持。
It makes no sense to believe that only the negative emotions have an effect on the body’s chemistry.Every emotion,negative or positive,makes its registration on the body’s systems.When I was ill,I read every humorous book I could get my hands on.My goal was to be uplifted and relieved of worry and panic through laugher.That’s why Dr.s uses comic films as part of his therapy.Illness is not a laughing matter,but perhaps it ought to ughter is a form of internal jogging.It moves to the organs around.It enhances respiration.It is an igniter of great expectations. 仅仅相信负面情绪会对人体产生化学影响毫无意义。
每一种情绪，无论是积极的还是消极的，都在身体的系统中留下了印记。
当我生病了，我会阅读所有我可以得到的幽默的书籍。
我的目标就是变得兴奋并通过笑来缓解焦虑和恐慌。
这就是为什么s医生把喜剧电影作为他治疗的一部分。
生病不是一件可笑的事情，但是也许它应该是可笑的。
笑是一种体内慢跑。
它会活动周围的器官。
它能加强呼吸。
它能够点燃巨大的希望。
Through my studies at the medical school and from my own experience,I have learned that one of the prime elements of human uniqueness is the ability to create and exercise new options.What an individual decides to do with his or her life;what a person believes or doesn’t believe about the great mysteries of life;how people go about fulfilling their individual and collective needs and desires-all these involve options.Protecting and cherishing our right to exercise these options may well represent the finest example of true human freedom.
根据我在医学院的研究和我自己的经验，我知道导致人类唯一性的一个主要因素就是人们制定和运用新选项的能力。
一个人决定如何过自己的生活，一个是否相信生命的巨大秘密；人们符合去满足个人和群体的需求和欲望-这一切都设计到选项。
保护和珍惜我们运用这些选项的权利可能能为真正的人类的自由提供了一个最好的例子。
We must learn never to underestimate the capacity of the human mind and body to regenerate-even when the prospects seem most wretched.The life-force may be the least understood force on earth.The eminent psychologist and philosopher William James said that human beings tend to live too much within self-imposed limits.It is possible that these limits will recede when we respect more fully the natural drive of the human mind and body toward perfectibility and regeneration.
我们一定要学会从来不要过低估计人们生理和心理的再生能力-即使当前途似乎已经破碎了。
这种生命的力量可能是地球上最不被理解的能力了。
杰出的心理学家哲学家威廉吉姆说，人类往往会过多的活在自己自己强加的限制里。
当我们更充分的相信人的身心的自然驱动力会朝着完美和重生的方向发展，这种限制就可能会减弱。
The most important thing I have learned about the power of belief is that an individual patient’s attitude toward serious illness can be as important as medical help.It would be a serious mistake to bypass or minimize the need for scientific treatment,but that treatment will be far more effective if people put their creative hopes,their faith,and their confidence fully to work in behalf of their recovery.
关于信念的力量我学到的最重要的一点就是一个病人对待严重疾病的态度可以和医学帮助同样重要。
忽视或者减少科学治疗的做法是非常错误的，但是如果加入人们对自己的康复的创造性的希望、他们的信念以及完全的信心，这种治疗会变的有效的多。
