Bernie has inspired many people to take more control of their health and lives. During the past 30 years he has promoted the study of exceptional patients; written best selling books, such as Love, Medicine & Miracles and Peace, Love & Healing; and enabled people to develop purposeful attitudes to life.
Like all pioneers, he has had his critics, but he has provided a powerful force for good in the world. After years of practicing as a physician and surgeon, he focused on working with cancer patients.
Looking at what might be considered ‘success’ in treatment, Bernie has said:
“If you are ill or facing adversity, you can begin to heal yourself by following the paths others have followed. Forgive yourself and others, live with hope, faith and love and watch the results in your life and in the lives you touch. Remember that success and healing refer to what you do with your life, not to how long you avoid death."
1) Philosophy and Background.
Bernie’s books contain many real-life stories and practical tips. They cover many aspects of living, including some of the following themes.
* People can learn from exceptional patients – those who provide evidence of self-healing.
They can also learn from patients who focus on living purposeful lives.
* People can choose their attitude and this can affect their health.
They can aim to live fully and purposefully. This can improve their quality of life and also provide a sense of peace.
* People can take more charge of their health.
This is especially important when working with professional experts and institutions. People who feel in control are more likely to feel happier and at peace.
Writing in his book Peace, Love & Healing, Bernie describes John, a landscape gardener he met. Here is part of his story.
John completed his preparations for the garden and then returned for his operation. Unfortunately some of the cancer remained. Bernie continues:
“I explained to him that he ought to consider chemotherapy and x-ray therapy to deal with the residual cancer. ‘You forgot something,’ he said. ‘What did I forget this time?’ ‘It’s still spring. I don’t have time for all that.’
"He was totally at peace, healed rapidly and was out of the hospital well ahead of schedule. (His granddaughter, and oncology nurse at Yale, was fully aware of the findings and his choice.)”
Four years later Bernie noticed John’s name on the office chart. Because the prognosis had not been hopeful, surely it couldn’t be him. Maybe it was somebody with the same name.
Bernie got his answer when John walked into the room. This time he had some questions to ask about his diet, but also wanted to know if he could get his hernia fixed. (Shifting boulders was a strenuous business in the landscape trade.) John died at the age of 94 with no sign of cancer.
John was one of many patients who inspired Bernie. This article gives an introduction to Bernie’s work. You can find much more information, however, at his web site.
Development
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bernie studied medicine at Cornell University Medical College. He then trained as a surgeon at Yale New Haven Hospital, West Haven Veteran’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
He believes young doctors should be educated to see the patient as a whole human being, rather than simply write prescriptions. Doctors have great expertise and can use it to enable people to be healthy. But this calls for listening, outlining the options and harnessing the person’s strength.
Bernie came to a crossroads in his own career during the early 1970s. Looking ahead, he could see several options. These included:
* He could continue in his present role as a surgeon. But the long hours and sense of not treating the whole person were exacting a heavy toll.
* He could totally change career. Setting aside his skills as a surgeon he could, for example, become a psychiatrist or a therapist
* He could build on his hard-earned skills, but reframe the way he worked with people. For example, he could learn from exceptional patients – those who embodied self-healing – and share this knowledge with others who wanted to follow a similar path.
He chose to pursue the latter route. Bernie set-up an event which offered patients the opportunity to learn ways they could prolong their lives and live between office visits.
Sending out the invitations, he expected hundreds to attend. Little more than a dozen turned up, but they had a wonderful evening.
People told their stories and Bernie explained his approach. This included listening to people, understanding the illness and enabling individuals to pursue their chosen path of treatment.
Bernie noticed something about the people who attended. They had an ‘internal locus of control’. They chose their attitude towards the illness, gathered information and did their best to shape the future.
People with an ‘external locus of control’ saw themselves as victims, feeling there was little they could do to shape their futures. Those who attended the meeting – and the subsequent support groups – had an interesting view of ‘success’. Certainly they wanted to live longer – but the keys were to take charge, appreciate life and live fully.
Building on this foundation, Bernie developed new ways of working with patients. Whilst still offering conventional treatment, he also offered people to the opportunity to explore their illnesses.
Sometimes there was a strictly physical reason for the malady; other times people found that psychological reasons had contributed to the problems. Bernie enabled people to explore their illness using one-to-ones, group therapy, drawings and guided imagery.
People gained from the sessions and Bernie eventually founded ECaP – a group for Exceptional Cancer Patients. Here is the link to their web site.
The Books
Bernie’s books have had a profound effect on people’s lives – including his own. Published in 1986, Love, Medicine & Miracles reached an audience seeking more positive ways to deal with illness.
He followed it with Peace, Love & Healing in 1989. Many saw Bernie’s books as providing the medical case for the ‘mind-body’ connections highlighted by Norman Cousins in Anatomy of an Illness. Cousins overcame a serious illness by taking massive doses of Vitamin C and, amongst other things, watching Candid Camera re-runs. Norman wrote:
“I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep …
"When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”
Bernie’s books complemented the work of several other pioneers in the field of mind-body connection. These included Carl and Stephanie Simonton, authors of Getting Well Again. There were, of course, doubters, but Bernie provided a framework that people could use to take more control of their treatment.
Since then he has produced many other books. These include How To Live Between Office Visits, Prescriptions for Living and 365 Prescriptions For The Soul. He has also written several books for children and parents. These include Smudge Bunny and Love, Magic & Mud Pies. Buddy’s Candle relates to dealing with the loss of a loved one, be it a pet or parent.
His recent book Faith, Hope & Healing focused on survivor stories and reflections on what they teach us.
Bernie retired from full time surgical work in 1989. Since then he has devoted himself to writing and talking with patients and their care-givers.
The key themes he promotes are humanising medical care, empowering patients and teaching survival behaviour to enhance the strengths of the immune system. Together with his wife and co-worker Bobbie, Bernie lives in a suburb of New Haven, Connecticut. As his web site says:
“They have five children and eight grandchildren. Bernie and Bobbie have co-authored their children, books and articles. Their home with its many children, pets and interests resembled a cross between a family art gallery, museum, zoo and automobile repair shop. It still resembles these things, although the children are trying to improve its appearance in order to avoid embarrassment.”
2) Principles.
Let’s explore some of the guidelines that Bernie expresses in his work. When still working as a surgeon, he wrote in Love, Medicine & Miracles:
“My job as a physician is not only to find the right treatment but to help the patient find an inner reason for living, resolve conflicts and free healing energy … My role as a doctor is expressed in the sentence, ‘How may I help you?’ Rather than ‘What's wrong with you?’”
“That doesn't mean that I don't operate on people. I'm very much a traditional doctor. It's a matter of utilizing all the resources available. In essence I tell my patients:
"‘This is what I can do for you as a physician. This is what an operation or pills may do to help you. And then here is where you play a part. This is what can you do. This part is about your life, your work, your relationships, your nutrition, your habits.’”
Bernie tries to help people to find what they have lost; their health. He believes that the whole human system is connected. It is important to study what works and try to do it more – plus also find creative solutions to challenges.
What you do in one part of your body, however, can affect the whole system. Building on this approach, Bernie promotes the following principles in his work.
* People can learn from exceptional patients – those who provide evidence of self-healing and those who focus on living purposeful lives.
“What can we learn from success?” asks Bernie. In particular, what can we learn from patients who appear to have what physicians call ‘spontaneous remissions’?
Doctors used to overlook such events, as if they were acts of God. Bernie preferred to consider this to be ‘self-induced healing’. What were patients, such as John the landscape-gardener, doing right?
Bernie said: “We need to learn from people who recover and people who stay healthy.” As mentioned earlier, such people often pursue some of the following principles.
* They take responsibility for shaping their futures. They gather information about their illness.
They explore the possible options – the choices and the consequences. They learn from ‘experts’ – such as doctors – but then decide on their own way going forward.
* They explore if there is any ‘meaning’ in their illness.
For example, did something happen in their lives before they contracted the illness? If so, what might it mean? How could they harness their energy in another way to express things healthily – rather than through an illness?
* They appreciate their assets – the healthy parts of their bodies, their relationships, their talents and their goals. They mobilise their energy to live purposefully each day.
Writing in Love, Medicine & Miracles, Bernie explains that:
“Exceptional patients manifest the will to live in its most potent forms.
"They take charge of their lives even if they were never able to before, and they work hard to achieve health and peace of mind.
"They do not rely on doctors to take the initiative but rather use them as members of a team, demanding the utmost technique, resourcefulness, concern, and open-mindedness. If they’re not satisfied, they change doctors.”
“Exceptional patients refuse to be victims. They educate themselves and become specialists in their own care.
"They question the doctor because they want to understand their treatment and participate in it. They demand dignity, personhood, and control, no matter what the course of the disease …
"Exceptional patients want to know every detail of their x-ray reports. They want to know what every number in their lab test printouts means. A doctor who harnesses that intense self-concern, instead of rejecting it and being ‘too busy,’ dramatically improves the patient’s chances.”
ECaP
Exceptional Cancer Patients was founded by Bernie in 1978. During the next three decades he has worked with support groups where people use discussions, imagery and other vehicles to take more charge of their health.
Today ECaP is run by the Mind-Wellness Center under the direction of Barry Bittman and promotes the concept of integrative healing in mind, body and spirit. Below is an excerpt from their mission statement, which you can find at the following site.
http://www.ecap-online.org/background
* People can choose their attitude and this affects their health.
Sometimes illness provides a wake-up call. It can offer the opportunity to live fully and purposefully.
Bernie has said: “Many joyful people are living inside bodies they can’t control or manage.”
Whatever their illness, such people teach you how to live. He talks about a professional partner who says: “True good health is the ability to do without it.”
That is probably my definition, says Bernie. In a sense, health has nothing to do with one’s body, but more to do with one’s attitude to life. Whilst it is vital to enable people to be physically healthy, we can learn from those who display psychological health.
Bernie is careful to underline several principles.
First, everybody has the right to choose how they live their life. It is not up to him – or any doctor – to persuade or to be judgemental.
Second, everybody has the right to choose their attitude.
Third, everybody can, if they wish, explore ways to understand and take care of their health.
Bernie sees his role as to love and enable people to shape their futures – not judge or force them to change. He is there to accept people, offer options and let them choose.
Based on what he has experienced, however, Bernie has believes it is important for people ‘to have mottoes to live by’. You can’t separate thoughts and beliefs from your body.
What you think and what you believe can literally change your body chemistry. It can enable your immune system to become stronger or, if you are down, become more vulnerable to disease.
Illness can be frightening, because it seems we are no longer in control. But it can also be a wake up call. Contributing to the book Healers on Healing, Bernie explains why this can be the case.
Each of us seems to be born with a ‘blueprint’, says Bernie. This plays a part in:
a) Shaping our physical growth;
b) Shaping our psychological, intellectual and spiritual growth.
We instinctively recognise when we are following our true path. But there are pressures that mean we may deviate from our true nature.
Sometimes it can take a psychological or physical illness to get us back on course. Strange as if may seem, the illness gives us chance to take stock.
Some people respond to this wake-up call by becoming the person they want to be, says Bernie. They refocus on living a purposeful life. In a sense they are born again and thus let their bodies know they love their new life.
For example, they change job; change their behaviour; experience joy; express their feelings and give to other people. They feel better psychologically and, in some cases, also physically.
“Near death experiences focus the mind,” we are told, but these may not always be necessary. We can find ways to follow our ‘blueprint’ earlier, says Bernie. This relates to another theme in his work.
* People can learn to take more charge of their health.
They can be helped to take this step by parents, teachers and many others, such as doctors.People who feel in control are more likely to feel happier and at peace.
People who take this step will have a greater chance of staying physically and psychologically healthy, believes Bernie. He now talks a lot about prevention, rather than simply about cure.
The influences around us in childhood, for example, play a big part in shaping our future health. Bernie writes on his web site:
“For the first six years of a child’s life its brain wave pattern resembles that of someone under hypnosis. So the child is being entranced by the words it hears from the authorities in its life.
"When a child grows up hearing negative messages about how it disappoints and embarrasses its parents, never feels a loving touch and is abused physically and psychologically with indifference and rejection it will choose a path of self destruction, addictions and revenge. When this happens the world and its inhabitants suffer from their actions.”
“Children need to grow up with mottoes to live by. Parents who tell them to do what makes them happy, when they have decisions to make, will put them in touch with their feelings and heart’s wisdom …”
Bernie’s book Love, Magic & Mudpies explores how parents can encourage their children. It covers topics such as:
How much time with you do your kids need? How do you teach your children values? When kids misbehave, how do you mix appropriate anger and discipline with love? What are some ways to help children adjust to separation or divorce? Should you get a family pet?
The book provides ideas parents can use to enable their children to enjoy a happy and healthy life. You can hear Bernie talk about Love, Magic & Mudpies in the following interview.
“Mottoes to live by,” is one of Bernie’s favourite phrases. So what kind of guidelines does he advise following? Here are some that he explores in his work.
* Count your blessings
Writing in 365 Prescriptions for the Soul, Bernie explains:
“A gentleman I was talking to on the phone related that his doctor and the EMR team had told him his heart stopped beating and he had died at least five times during surgery. He concluded our conversation by saying, ‘I used to have troubles, but now I have only blessings.’ His outlook clearly had been turned around by this experience.”
Health comes from focusing on our assets – and using these well – rather than worrying about what we are lacking.
* Focus on those moments – and activities – when you lose track of time.
Bernie advises exploring more of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called ‘Flow experiences’ – those moments when ‘time goes away’. Writing on his web site, he says:
“I know from experience and as a physician that the healthiest state one can be in is when you are doing something which makes you lose track of time. When I am painting a portrait or operating upon someone I have no sense of time or self. I am in a trance state and I believe when we are being creative our physiology gives our body a profound live message.”
* Seize the day.
When being interviewed on radio, Bernie loves it when the host says we are running out of time for the interview. He then explains to listeners that we are all running out of time.
Don’t wait until the doctor says you have six months, says Bernie. When people accept their mortality, they may embark on living their true life.
So it is important to do soul work. Paint that picture, tend to the garden, forgive yourself and other people. Get on with living and enjoy the benefits – now!
* Create healing environments.
Spend time in your chosen sanctuaries. Reflect on yourself, your hopes and your goals. Harness your positive energy. This is especially important when going into hospital or another institution – so take steps to feel at home.
Hospitals are often sterile places, so do whatever you can:
a) To feel in control;
b) To ‘humanise’ your environment.
Remember, it is your body and your life. Do what you can to follow your rhythm, rather than that of the institution. Surround yourself with the people, sights, sounds and other things you love. This will have a beneficial effect on your immune system.
* Mobilise your resources.
Focus on your picture of success. Use positive phrases, such as ‘healing my body’, rather than negative phrases, such as ‘killing cells’.
Dare to use imagery and other techniques to channel your resources. Medicine is full of aggressive phrases, says Bernie, such as ‘fighting the war against cancer’. Writing on his web site, he explains that sometimes these phrases can be unhelpful.
“Dave, a Quaker and friend of mine with cancer, went to see his oncologist. His oncologist said to him. ‘I am going to kill your cancer.’ Dave answered, ‘I’m a Quaker. I don’t kill anything.’ And he walked out the door. Dave lived for twelve years doing alternative therapies.”
“I do a lot of work with drawings and imagery and tried to get Dave to think of his immune system as soldiers or police cleaning out the cancer but Dave could not work with those aggressive images. His drawing shows his white cells carrying his cancer cells away. He wouldn’t hurt anything.”
“When we focus on waging a war or fighting a battle versus healing our lives and bodies we are interfering with the healing process. Another patient I know had a large mediastinal tumor and she was told by someone to imagine her white blood cells as dogs eating it up. Nothing happened.
"One day she shared that she was not comfortable being aggressive and saw her tumor as a block of ice with God’s light melting it and then it literally began to melt away.”
“When our minds and bodies are involved in a battle and a war our response is one of protection. That means we are prepared to run for our lives as our blood is diverted to parts of our brain and bodies which help us to escape. Stress hormone levels are elevated and immune function is suppressed during this time …
"When we are involved in healing and see life as a labor pain of self birthing then the side effects are diminished and our body is reprogrammed to grow and heal as the stress level is reduced and immune function enhanced.”
People are different. So it is vital for them to do what they believe in. They will then have more energy to mobilise their resources. Bernie explains more about this approach at:
3) Practice.
So what have been the effects of Bernie’s work? He has contributed greatly to the humanising of medicine.
Along with people such as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Carl and Stephanie Simonton and places like the Penny Brohn Centre (formerly the Bristol Cancer Help Centre), he has put the patient back at the centre.
Certainly there have been critics but, as ever, he has invited people to take the ideas they like and use these in their own way.
Contribution to the strengths approach
Bernie has done profound work in medicine. He has also added to the person-centered approach, which has had a strong influence on the strengths philosophy. For example:
* He has encouraged people to learn from exceptional patients – those who provide evidence of self-healing and those who live purposeful lives.
* He has encouraged people to draw on their inner strength, take responsibility for their health and live purposeful lives.
* He has empowered patients and helped to humanise aspects of the medical profession.
People can now get access to medical knowledge, explore their possible treatment options and choose their way forward. This embodies many of the principles of the strengths approach.
“Success and healing refer to what you do with your life, not to how long you avoid death,” says Bernie. His work, books and ideas have inspired many people to take more control of their health and lives. You can discover more about Bernie at:
Posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 4:52 pm in Philosophers, The Strengths Blog | RSS feed
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