Meares, A.
Medical Journal of Australia 2 (4): July 23 1977; 132-133
Extracted Summary
It is suggested that the atavistic regression of the mind in intensive meditation is accompanied by a similar physiological regression, and that this may involve the immune system and so influence the patient’s defences against cancer. A case of a patient with carcinoma of the breast is reported in which regression of metastases occurred after intensive meditation.
Selected Case Report
Last year, I reported a case of regression of advanced cancer after intensive meditation. (A. Meares, Medical Journal of Australia 2 (1976): 184).
The significant episode in the patient’s recovery is that after the publication of the report, she had a serious relapse. I went overseas for 3 ½ weeks and the patient was left to continue her meditation unaided. She soon relapsed. Her breast became had again and the skin over it became tense and discoloured. Her physical condition had clearly deteriorated.
On my return, I inquired in some detail about the way she had been meditating. It gradually became clear that she had changed the pattern of her meditation. With her initial success, she had become very confident. Her recovery was hailed as a kind of miracle. Her photograph was in the papers. She gave television and radio interviews and was invited to give talks on how she “beat” cancer. In this burst of confidence, she departed from the extreme simplicity of the meditation in which she was originally instructed, her breast softened again, she put on weight, and strength returned. She had continued well for the nine months since this episode. From this, it would seem that the atavistic regression, the going back to a simple and more primitive pattern of functioning was an essential factor in the patient’s recovery.
DISSOCIATIVE STATES: HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION
Regression of Cancer After Intensive Meditation
Meares, A.
Medical Journal of Australia 2: 1976: 184
Extracted Summary
There is evidence to suggest that some cancers are influenced by immunological reactions. There is some similarity between immunological reactions and allergic reactions. Some allergic reactions can be modified by meditative experience. Furthermore, some cancers are influenced by endocrine reactions, and some endocrine reactions can be modified by meditative experience. With these ideas in mind, I wrote to your correspondence column (Medical Journal of Australia, October 25) seeking referral of suitable cancer patients to conduct a small private experiment to see if the progress of their condition could be influenced by intensive meditation. Only three patients made themselves available and two of them soon dropped out of the experiment.
A case report of a patient with pathologically proven carcinomas in both breasts is reported. The patient experienced regression of metastases following intensive meditation.
Selected Case Report
The third patient, a single woman aged 49 years, has continued steadfastly in the experiment for the past six months. She had pathologically proven carcinomas of both breasts. She had been given radical radiotherapy to both breasts, with initial regression of the tumours. However, they soon recurred and she developed radiologically proven metastases in the spine. She underwent oophorectomy. There was a remission of symptoms, but she relapsed again and had treatment with Laetril (an extract of the apricot kernel) in Mexico. Her condition deteriorated and she required a blood transfusion. Treatment with cytotoxic drugs had been strongly advised, but for reasons of her own, the patient kept putting off the decision to accept the treatment.
When I first saw the patient six months ago, she was frail, debilitated, and in pain. Her left breast was wooden and immovable on the chest wall and the skin over it was so tight that it appeared in danger of rupture. The right breast had large, wooden lumps in it and the nipple was retracted. Her general condition continued to deteriorate for the first six weeks in which I saw her. Her weakness became greater and she had severe pain in the back. Her condition necessitated two more transfusions. She developed ascites which had to be tapped on two occasions.
After six weeks, further deterioration gradually ceased. Strength began to return. After the second paracentesis, her abdomen started to refill, but the fluid has been reabsorbed. Three months age, the patient was barely able to keep down any food at all, whereas now she says she had enjoyed steak and onions. Initially, she barely had the strength to come to my rooms and now she has been swimming in a friend’s pool. She has had no analgesic treatment at all for the past ten weeks. The left breast is still hard, but there are definite soft patches developing in the under-surface. It is now freely movable on the chest wall, and the skin is still tight, but very much less so than when the patient first presented. The nipple of the right breast is no longer retracted. Her abdomen is now soft to palpation. Her face has filled out, but there is still very marked loss of flesh above and below the clavicles. In spite of the loss of fluid from her abdomen, in the last seven weeks, she had gained 9 pounds in weight.
In the six months the patient has attended more than 100 sessions of intensive meditation in a small group under my guidance. She has also practised what I have shown her for many hours, both in my rooms and at her home.
Psychobiological Aspects of Spontaneous Regressions of Cancer
Booth G
American Academy of Psychoanalysis Journal 1(3): 1973; 303-317
Extracted Summary
In this paper it is proposed that psychological trauma is an antecedent to the development of cancer during a lifetime. It is suggested that as infants, cancer patients experience traumatic frustration in their mother relationship, and their subsequent life histories are characterized by a desperate need for control of a specific object. The Neoplastic process begins when the patient experiences the irreparable loss of control over his idiosyncratic object. The tumour represents the internalized lost object and the course of the disease depends on the balance of power between the unconscious satisfaction derived from the neoplastic process, and the satisfactions derived from the remaining object relationships.
Cases of so-called spontaneous regression of cancer are of great practical importance because they prove that the psychosocial process between patient and environment can cure neoplasia without any physical attack on the tumour itself.
The dynamics of cancer therapy include (a) response on the part of friends and relatives similar to that produced by a suicidal attempt, and (b) the capacity f the patient to replace the lost object relationship by a new one. Rational cancer therapy thus requires that the patient be encouraged to accept the responsibility of resolving the existential crisis of which the neoplasia is the somatic expression.
In summary, the author concludes that sometimes cancer regresses in the absence of physical manipulation aimed at destroying the cancer cells. Such regressions of cancer are not spontaneous but responses of the organism to a favourable change in the psychosocial situation of the patient. So-called spontaneous cases of regression agree with the concept that cancer is the reaction of a pregenitally fixated personality against the loss of a vitally important object relationship. Healing is mediated by the defense reaction of the cerebral cortex against cancerous tissue. The healing potential can be aided by physicians who utilize the plasticity of the brain function in a state of crisis.
The capacity of patients for cooperation with the therapist is limited by their intrinsic secretiveness and guilt feelings, compounded by the pervasive aura of pessimism surrounding cancer. These limitations make the psychotherapeutic approach difficult, but not impossible. Physicians, confronted with these difficult patients, are often reluctant to invest the necessary time in view of the uncertainty of the results. This negative approach is rationalized in terms of the prevailing prejudice that cancer is a disease of cellular origin. This prejudice is based upon the fantasy that animate nature can be manipulated by methods which have proved successful in controlling inanimate matter.
The growing evidence of the unpredictable results of purely somatic therapy gives reason for hope that the emphasis of cancer therapy will shift from physical destruction of the tumour to reconstruction of the patient’s relationship with his human environment.
Selected Case Reports
A woman in her sixties was found to have an inoperable cancer of the pancreas. She returned to her home expecting to die. At his point her daughter, a devout Catholic, prayed for the recovery of her mother with whom she had been on bad terms for as long as she could remember. She finally wanted a reconciliation and her mother responded with what seemed to be a complete recovery. After 14 months of a harmonious relationship, the mother’s health suddenly declined and a new operation was performed. It was found that the original tumour had regressed so much that it could have been removed if a small part of the tumour had not entered the bile duct (personal observation).
At the age of 63, composer Bela Bartok was found to be in what seemed to be the terminal stage of leukemia. He had been very depressed by the lack of response to his work in America. Unexpectedly, Serge Koussevitzky visited him in the hospital and commissioned him to write a work for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It immediately became apparent that Bartok had taken a new lease on life. He returned to the South and wrote the most successful of his 106 works: the “Concerto for Orchestra” which had its premiere in the following year. He then composed his “Third Piano Concerto” and finished all but the last 17 bars when the final recurrence of leukemia killed him 27 months after the visit of Koussevitzky (Heinsheimer 1968).
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL REPORTS
Psychological Variables in Human Cancer
Kloppfer, B.
Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment 21: 1957; 331-340
Extracted Summary
The author presents his views on the psychological variables in cancer based upon his experience with cancer patients. He asks whether there is a connection between either the ego organization or the personality organization of the patient and the rate of cancer growth, and, if so, the author speculates that if a good deal of the patient’s vital energy is used up in the defense of an insecure ego, then the organism does not seem to have the vital energy necessary to fight the cancer and the cancer can proliferate. If, however, a minimum of vital energy is consumed in ego defensiveness, then the cancer has a hard time making headway.
He presents a case report that he received as a personal communication from Dr. Philip West as an example of the psychological aspects of cancer regression.
Selected Case Report
Mr. Wright had a generalized far-advanced malignancy involving the lymph nodes, lymphosarcoma. Eventually, the day came when he developed resistance to all known palliative treatments. Also, his increasing anemia precluded any intensive efforts with x-rays or nitrogen mustard, which might otherwise have been attempted. Huge tumour masses, the size of oranges, were in the neck, axillas, groin, chest and abdomen. The spleen and liver were enormous. The thoracic duct was obstructed, and between 1 and 2 liters of milky fluid had to be drawn from his chest every other day. He was taking oxygen by mask frequently, and our impression was that the was in a terminal state, untreatable, other than to give sedatives to ease him on his way.
In spite of all this, Mr. Wright was not without hope, even though his doctors most certainly were. The reason for this was that the new drug that he had expected to come along and save the day had already been reported in the newspapers! Its name was “Krebiozen” (subsequently shown to be a useless, inert preparation).
Then he heard in some way, that our clinic was to be one of a hundred places chosen by the Medical Association for evaluation of this treatment. We were allotted supplies of the drug sufficient for treating twelve selected cases. Mr. Wright was not considered eligible, since one stipulation was that the patient must not only be beyond the point where standard therapies could benefit, but also must have a life expectancy of at least 3, and preferably 6 months. He certainly didn’t qualify on the latter point, and to give him a prognosis of more than 2 weeks seemed to be stretching things.
However, a few days later, the drug arrived, and we began setting up our testing program which, of course, did not include Mr. Wright. When he heard we were going to begin treatment with Krebiozen, his enthusiasm knew no bounds, and as much as I tried to dissuade him, he begged so hard for this “golden opportunity,” that against my better judgment, and against the rules of the Krebiozen committee, I decided I would have to include him.
Injections were to be given three times weekly, and I remember he received his first one on a Friday. I didn’t see him again until Monday and thought as I came to the hospital he might be moribund or dead by that time, and his supply of the drug could then be transferred to another case. What a surprise was in store for me! I had left him febrile, gasping for air, completely bedridden. Now, here he was, walking around the ward, chatting happily with the nurses, and spreading his message of good cheer to any who would listen. Immediately, I hastened to see the others who had received their first injection at the same time. No change, or change for the worse was noted. Only in Mr. Wright was there brilliant improvement. The tumour masses had melted like snow balls on a hot stove, and in only these few days, they were half their original size! This is, of course, far more rapid regression than the most radiosensitive tumour could display under heavy x-ray given every day. And we already knew his tumour was no longer sensitive to irradiation. Also, he had had no other treatment outside of the single useless “shot.”
This phenomenon demanded an explanation, but not only that, it almost insisted that we open our minds to learn, rather than try to explain. So, the injections were given 3 times weekly as planned, much to the joy of the patient, but much to our bewilderment. Within 10 days he was able to be discharged from his “death-bed,” practically all signs of his disease having vanished in this short time.
Incredible as it sounds, this “terminal” patient, gasping his last breath through an oxygen mask, was now not only breathing normally, and fully active, he took off in his plane and flew at 12,000 feet, with no discomfort!
This unbelievable situation occurred at the beginning of the “Krebiozen” evaluation, but within two months, conflicting reports began to appear in the news, all of the testing clinics reporting no results. At the same time, the originators of the treatment were still blindly contradicting the discouraging facts that were beginning to emerge.
This disturbed our Mr. Wright considerably as the weeks wore on. Although he had no special training, he was, at times, reasonably logical and scientific in his thinking. He began to lose faith in his last hope which so far had been life-saving and left nothing to be desired. As the reported results became increasingly dismal, his faith waned, and after two months of practically perfect health, he relapsed to his original state, and became very gloomy and miserable. But here I saw the opportunity to double-check the drug and maybe to find out how the quacks can accomplish the results that they claim, (and many of their claims are well substantiated). Knowing something of my patient’s innate optimism by this time, I deliberately took advantage of him. This was for purely scientific reasons, in order to perform the perfect control experiment which could answer all the perplexing questions he had brought up. Furthermore, this scheme could not harm him in any way, I felt sure, and there was nothing I knew anyway that could help him.
When Mr. Wright had all but given up in despair with the recrudescence of his disease, in spite of the “wonder drug” which had worked so well at first, I decided to take the chance and play the quack. So deliberately lying, I told him not to believe what he read in the papers, the drug was really most promising after all. “What then,” he asked, “was the reason for his relapse?” “Just because the substance deteriorates on standing,” I replied, “a new super-refined, double-strength product is due to arrive tomorrow which can more than reproduce the great benefits derived from the original injections.”
This news came as a great revelation to him, and Mr. Wright, ill as he was, became his optimistic self again, eager to start over. By delaying a couple of days before the “shipment” arrived, his anticipation of salvation had reached a tremendous pitch. When I announced that the new series of injections were about to begin, he was almost ecstatic and his faith was very strong.
With much fanfare, and putting on quite an act, (which I deemed permissible under the circumstances), I administered the first injection of the doubly potent, fresh preparation, consisting of fresh water and nothing more. The results of this experiment were quite unbelievable to us at the time, although we must have had some suspicion of the remotely possible outcome to have even attempted it at all.
Recovery from his second near-terminal state was even more dramatic than the first. Tumour masses melted, chest fluid vanished, he became ambulatory, and even went back to flying again. At this time, he was certainly the picture of health. The water injections were continued, since they worked such wonders. He then remained symptom-free for over two months. At this time, the final AMA announcement appeared in the press, “nationwide tests show Krebiozen to be a worthless drug in treatment of cancer.”
Within a few days of this report, Mr. Wright was readmitted to the hospital in extremis. His faith was now gone, his last hope vanished, and he succumbed in less than two days.
Psychosomatic Consideration on Cancer Patients Who Have Made A Narrow Escape from Death
Ikemi Y; Nakagawa T; Mineyasu S
Dynamische Psychiatrie 31: 1975 ; 77-92
Extracted Summary
Clinical histories of five cases of spontaneous regression of cancer (SRC) have been analyzed from the psychosomatic point of view. As a result, some common features have been observed in their psychophysiological conditions. In all five cases, the absence of anxious and depressive reactions and the dramatic change of outlook on life seemed to have led to the full activation of their innate self-recuperative potentials and to have helped them to make a narrow escape from death. Such an extraordinary psychological achievement was supported and encouraged by their religious faith or favourable change of human environment. Furthermore, the authors feel that the background of Oriental thought also might help them reach such a blessed state of mind. As one of somatic conditions which might contribute to SRC in them, the unchanged or rather elevated immunological capacity which was usually lowered in cancer patients has been confirmed in three of them.
Case 1: Y.H., a male church worker died in November 1964, at the age of seventy-five. Clinical History: The patient was 64 years old when he noted sudden nasal bleeding and nasal obstruction while at work in March 1950. Dr. F., an otorhinolaryngologist, after having examined the patient, suspected malignant cancer and sent him to the department of otorhinolaryngology of the Kyushu University Hospital. An exploratory excision was conducted from a polyp on the right maxilla. Through the histological examination, a diagnosis of “cancer of the upper jaw (right side)” was made. The resection of the tumour was conducted on April 14, 1950.
He complained of hoarseness in January, 1951, when he thought he had caught a cold. At first he was treated under the diagnosis of chronic laryngitis, but the hoarseness was aggravated. Because of increased dry feeling in the laryngeal region as well as of hoarseness, the patient was examined again at the university hospital (age 66). A new growth of a tumour was discovered in the left side of the vocal cord. A record of this has been preserved on the chart at the university hospital. An exploratory excision followed by the microscopic histological examination revealed cancroid (squamonocell carcinoma).
Prof. S. of the department of otorhinolaryngology recommended that the patient be operated upon, but the patient declined it. He lived for the next thirteen years without receiving any regular treatment including radio-therapy, anti-cancer drug therapy, to say nothing of an operation. He died at the age of 78 when he received a bruise on the back which eventually caused his general deterioration.
Life History: The patient was born on a farm in 1886. At the age of eighteen, he became a member of a religious organization (Shinto sect). He was appointed teacher of a church when he was twenty-one. He then became a district leader of the organization and devoted himself to church work throughout his life.
He was a taciturn and self-punitive person by nature. After the end of the Second World War, his religious organization was exposed to a great crisis. During the war, he was asked to take over important business in the administration of his town. With the end of the war, he had a very difficult time carrying out his responsibilities for his neighbours as well as for his church work. Under these circumstances, he suffered from maxilla cancer in 1950.
Course of Illness: Ten days after “the sentence of cancer,” he visited the president of the religious organization, who said to him: “Remember that you are an invaluable asset for our church.” This made him feel very happy and he shed tears of joy all the way back home. Since this moving experience, his hoarseness began to improve and he began to give a short speech at his church four months later (July, 1952). At this time, his voice was still hoarse. Six months later, however, he spoke thirty minutes in the church, and this time, his voice was quite clear (this sermon was tape recorded).
In the literature concerning psychosomatic aspects of cancer, it has been noted that cancer patients, after having become aware of their cancer, often show a tendency of repression and are apt to lapse into depression with lack of motivation toward life and fear of death. This patient, however, did not demonstrate these characteristics at all. Today, Dr. F. says: “The cancer of this patient seemed to be practically cured. When I looked into the vocal cord through laryngoscopy, the tumour was gone. . . . “
Case 3 (here): K.A., a 39-year-old housewife. Clinical History: she had an intermittent dull ache in the epigastrium in 1963 and was seen by Dr. S. in March, 1966, because of continuous epigastralgia, lumbago, anaemia, general malaise and weight loss. Extensive examinations confirmed her stomach cancer with marked metastatic lesion. Dr. O., who operated on her, says: “When I opened the abdomen, I saw many thumb apex size metastases in the lessor curvature of the stomach and in lymph nodes of the mesentery leading to the transverse colon. Also, the metastases in the mesocolon lymph nodes were certain, which were later histologically confirmed as adenocarcinoma. As I thought the recurrence was sure to come, I could not help performing gastrectomy, which was a palliative operation (2/3 resection – Billroth I method). I sutured the abdomen leaving metastases of cancer as they were. I told her family that cancer metastases were so bad that she would live one month or three months at best . . . “
The patient, however, began to improve three months after the operation. She has been in good health for nine years ever since.
Life History: The patient was born on a farm in 1935. When she was in high school, her friend’s mother invited her to become a member of a religious organization. She married her present husband at the age of twenty-four and they are running a drug store in Fukuoka city and have a 14-year old son.
For several years prior to the onset of her cancer, her husband used to go out on his business till late at night, often attending drinking parties. Her self-centred and repressive personality contributed to repressing her aggression toward her husband. She had not consulted a doctor until March, 1966. At that time, she thought it was due to stomach ulcer and tried to endure stomach ache. How did she feel when the diagnosis of stomach cancer was confirmed? In response to our question, she stated:
“Frankly speaking, I was not afraid of cancer. That was because I had my religious faith. But without it, I would have given in to the fear of cancer. I am now very grateful to my friend’s mother who persuaded me to have this faith.”
She continued: “I suffered from cancer much earlier before reaching what is called ‘the cancer age.’ Because of this, I was forced to an early mental awakening. I had been a stubborn person and I feel I had my corners rounded off by having cancer. Faith to me is not the attachment to life, just wishing to be saved, but it is gratitude to God who saved my spirit. I had begun to live a real life since that time.”
Course of Illness: She has been in excellent condition nine years after the operation. X-ray examinations of the residual stomach conducted in October, 1969 and July, 1971 revealed that the gastric wall was smooth with no evidence of irregular shaped region. No sign of metastasis was observed.
Case 4: K.K., a 77-year-old man. Clinical History: The patient noted anal bleeding and difficulty in defecation when he was forty-seven years old. At that time, he thought he had haemorrhoids and was seen at the department of surgery of the Kyushu University Hospital. On examination, the growth of cancer tissue was detected in the fore wall of the rectum ampulla perforating there in a ring shape.
The doctor in charge recommended an operation, but the patient declined it for economic reasons. For some time, he had frequent episodes of abdominal pain, lumbago, tenesmus, as well as emaciation. However, these symptoms gradually disappeared. For the past thirty years, he has had no symptoms of rectal cancer.
About three years ago, however, he had the feeling of fullness in the stomach which was accompanied by abdominal discharge and dull ache. He was seen by Dr. K. in May, 1973. Results of x-ray examination and gastrocamera led him to suspect gastric cancer. Biopsy material from the stomach revealed “poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.” However, the patient did not receive any regular treatment including an operation, x-ray treatment or anti-cancer drug therapy. Today he is alive and well.
Life History: The patient was born on a farm in 1896. At the age of sixteen, he became a believer in the Nichiren Sect of Buddhism. For some time, he taught at a grade school and married his present wife when he was twenty-eight. They lived in Northern China during the World War II. After returning to Japan, they found it hard to make a living. While he raised rice on the farm, his wife had to peddle dry goods about the country while carrying their baby. They simply lived a hand-to-mouth living. This must have been a big frustration, as he had no one to turn to for help. It was at this time when he had the onset of rectal cancer.
As to the recent psychological stress, he has been living with his son’s family who support him economically. He has had some emotional conflict with his son around 1970.
Course of Illness: When he was diagnosed as having of the rectum at the Kyushu University Hospital in 1949, he was not shocked, he says. As the Comprehensive Social Insurance System had not yet been established by that time, he learned that he had to pay 100,000 (here – no currency listed) for the surgery from his own pocket. He had no one to turn to to borrow that amount of money, so he decided that he would work hard as long as he could live even if it meant a year or two. He says that his Buddhist faith served as a big support during these trying years.
He has been unconcerned about worldly ambitions. About three years ago, he began to notice the aforementioned stomach symptoms, for which a diagnosis of stomach cancer was confirmed. He received occasional symptomatic treatment, but no anti-cancer therapy.
REGRESSION OF CANCER AFTER INTENSIVE MEDITATION FOLLOWED BY DEATH
Meares, A.
Medical Journal of Australia 2: 1977; 374-375
Extracted Summary
The author reports the follow-up of a case reported in an earlier article (Medical Journal of Australia 2(4) (July 23, 1977) 132-133, in which a patient with carcinoma of the breast experienced regression of metastases following intensive meditation. After seeking treatment by Dr. Brych in the Cook Islands, the patient experienced a relapse and has since died.
Selected Case Report
In a recent article, (Medical Journal of Australia 2 (1977) 132, I referred to a patient with advanced cancer who made a dramatic remission following intensive meditation who relapsed, and who made a second remission when her faulty style of meditation was corrected. At the time of submission of the article, the patient was well, strong, active and free of pain. Owing to the considerable professional interest in the subject, I now wish to report that the patient has since died. She developed ascites, was admitted to hospital for paracentesis, elected to have chemotherapy, and died within a few days.
In a strange, indirect, and negative fashion, her death tends to give further support to the idea that cancer growth can be influenced by intensive meditation. A few weeks ago, in Melbourne, considerable publicity was given to the treatment of advanced cancer by Dr. Brych in the Cook Islands. Without my knowledge, the patient concerned and a small coterie of cancer patients who were attending me for meditation became emotionally involved in the matter, and two of them left to seek treatment in the Cook Islands. It was at this time that the patient relapsed. She told my secretary that, if she had the money, she, too, would seek further treatment in the Cook Islands. My interpretation of these events is that this situation, caused doubts in her mind, and caused her to lose her ability for effective meditation and the still-dormant cancer became active. Her ready acceptance of the chemotherapy, when 18 months previously, in similar circumstances, she had steadfastly rejected offers of such help, seems to have been an outward expression of her new-found doubts about the meditation which had helped her so much in the past.
REGRESSION OF OSTEOGENIC SARCOMA METASTASES ASSOCIATED WITH INTENSIVE MEDITATION
Meares, A.
Medical Journal of Australia 2: Oct. 21 1978; 433
Extracted Summary
The patient described showed marked regression of metastases associated with intensive meditation. It would seem that the patient has let the effects of the intense and prolonged meditation enter into his whole experience of life. His extraordinarily low level of anxiety is obvious to the most casual observer. It is suggested that this has enhanced the activity of his immune system by reducing his level of cortisone.
Selected Case Report
The patient, aged 25, underwent a mid-thigh amputation for osteogenic sarcoma 11 months before he first saw me 2 ½ years ago. He had visible bony lumps of about 2 centimetres in diameter growing from the ribs, sternum and the crest of the ilium, and was coughing up small quantities of blood in which, he said, he could feel small spicules of bone. There were gross opacities in the x-ray films of his lungs. The patient had been told by a specialist that he had only two or three weeks to live, but in virtue of his profession, he was already well aware of the pathology and prognosis of his condition. Now, 2 ½ years later, he has moved to another State to resume his former occupation.
This young man has an extraordinary will to live, and has sought help from all the alternatives to orthodox medicine which were available to him. These have included acupuncture, massage, several sessions with Philippine faith healers, laying on of hands and yoga in an Indian ashram. He had short sessions of radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, but declined to continue treatment. He has also persisted with the dietary and enema treatment described by Max Gerson, the German physician, who gained some notoriety for this type of treatment in America in the 1940’s. However, in addition to all these measures to gain relief, the patient has consistently maintained a rigorous discipline of intensive meditation as described previously. He has, in fact, consistently meditated from one to three hours daily.
Two other factors seem to be important. He has had extraordinary help and support from his girlfriend, who more recently became his wife. She is extremely sensitive to his feelings and needs, and has spent hours in aiding his meditation and healing with massage and laying on of hands.
The other important factor would seem to be the patient’s own state of mind. He has developed a degree of calm about him which I have rarely observed in anyone, even in oriental mystics with whom I have had some considerable experience. When asked to what he attributes the regression metastases, he answers in some such terms as: “I really think it as our life, the way we experience our life.” In other words, it would seem that the patient has let the effects of the intense and prolonged meditation enter into his whole experience of life. His extraordinarily low level of anxiety is obvious to the most casual observer. It is suggested that this has enhanced the activity of his immune system by reducing his level of cortisone.
Some Observation on Psychotherapy with Patients with Neoplastic Disease
Le Shan LL; Gassman ML
American Journal of Psychotherapy 12: 1958; 7223-734
Extracted Summary
Ten patients with malignant neoplasms were studied in over 1,400 hours of intensive depth psychotherapy. This led to the recognition of a number of special problems arising during the psychotherapeutic treatment of cancer patients. Some tentative methods of handling these problems are presented and it is hoped that they will prove useful to others working in the same field.
The special problems were divided into four areas: (1) The anxieties of the cancer patient. These are predominantly realistic in nature and have to be accepted as such. More support is needed in this form of treatment than is generally given during psychotherapy. (2) The anxieties of the therapist. The therapist must be clear about the goals and values of working with patients who are likely to die in the course of the process. A control therapist is necessary in order that the stress, when one patient dies, does not affect the therapist’s relationships with the other cancer patients. (3) The personality of cancer patients. Certain personality factors which have implications for therapy appear with a good deal of consistency in individuals with cancer. These include an unusual amount of deeply repressed hostility, marked feeling of psychological isolation, and despair about having been unable to achieve real satisfactions in life. (4) Special psychosomatic aspects. There is some reason to believe that psychotherapy may under certain circumstances affect the growth rate and development of neoplasms. Therefore a good deal of caution is recommended in deciding how much guilt and hostility may be mobilized during the therapeutic process.
Selected Case Reports
A 34-year-old female, with a markedly anaplastic carcinoma of the breast, had visible metastatic growths in the right shoulder region. These had slowly and steadily increased in size over a three-month period. The woman had never accepted her hostility toward her husband and children, and had guilt feelings over the fact that she sometimes wished she were free of them. After approximately 45 hours of psychotherapy, she was able to accept and ventilate some of her hostility toward her children and to accept the reassurance of the therapist that these were normal and valid emotions, and that they would not cause her to hurt or desert her family. In the following three days, there was a temporary but definite shrinkage of the visible tumour growths.
A 32-year-old male had extensive metastases of a malignant melanoma. In his early adolescence, he had undergone an unusually traumatic experience when he witnessed his father prepare to murder the only adult who had ever been warm and kind to him. The murder was committed and, for a long time, he had been overwhelmed by the fear that he would be called to court during one of his father’s repeated trials, and would be unable to keep from testifying against him. Later he repressed the entire scene and consciously believed that his father was innocent had “framed.”
During the course of psychotherapy, recurrent dreams and associations indicated that tension over his relationship to his father’s guilt in the murder was mobilized. At the same time, he began to complain of pain in his throat and increasing difficulty in swallowing. Examination revealed a rapidly growing neoplasm in the right tonsillar and right glosso-epiglottic area. Preparations were made to remove it surgically so that he could continue to eat. In a psychotherapy session on the day before the operation was scheduled, he recalled the entire incident with all the emotion he had felt at the time. He recounted it in detail, weeping and trembling. Four hours later, he told the therapist that he had just finished the first meal he had been able to eat in a week without pain in his throat. Twenty-four hours later, the mass was markedly reduced; 48 hours later, it was even smaller; and within four days, it had disappeared. The surgical procedure was not carried out.
The reports of the surgeon who was called in consultation on this man are given: June 23, 1955. Ears negative. Uvula adematous. There is a mass about 3 centimetres in diameter occupying lateral part of the right glosso-epiglottic fossa and extending on to the anterior pillar on the right. A right subdigastric node is palpable, the mass on tongue has a deep red to purplish colour and is slightly tender. He complains of pain radiating to the right ear and some pain on continual swallowing.
July 3, 1955. No pain in right ear on swallowing. Uvula has normal appearance. Mass seen previously and described on June 23, 1955, which was 3 centimetres in diameter, has disappeared. The glosso-epiglottic fossa is entirely clean. On the right lateral pharyngeal wall, there is a nodule one quarter inch in diameter (lymphatic)tissue?). This does not appear to be part of the original picture. The pyriform sinuses are both clear. The right subdigastric nodes are not palpable. A left subdigastric node is questionably palpable. (B.Welt, M.D.)
Spontaneous Regression of Cancer
Shapiro SL
Eye Ear Nose Throat Monthly 46 (10): Oct 1967; 1306-1310
Extracted Summary
Near the end of the thirteenth century a zealous, young priest of the order of Servites fell ill with a painful cancer of the foot. He bore his trial without a murmur and, when it was decided that amputation should be performed, spent the night preceding the operation in prayer before his crucifix. He then sank into a light slumber from which he awoke completely cured, to the amazement of the doctors who could no longer detect any trace of the disease. The holy man lived to the age of eighty and died in the odour of sanctity. He became known as St. Peregrinus, the patron saint of cancer.
The author begins his investigation of spontaneous regression of cancer with the above anecdote, and then presents brief synopses of cases that he has personally observed as well as those reported by others.
The author reviews Spontaneous Regression of Cancer, the book by Drs. Everson and Cole. Possible factors that may influence spontaneous regression are discussed. Some of the tantalizing reports regarding the successful use of immunology in cancer are also presented.
Selected Case Report
Sister Gertrude of the Sisters of Charity in New Orleans was admitted as a patient to the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in New Orleans on December 27, 1934. Her health had been failing rapidly for some months. On admission to the hospital, she was jaundiced and suffered from severe pain, nausea, chills, and a high fever. She was under the care of Dr. James T. Nix, who had previously operated on her for a gallbladder condition.
A preoperative diagnosis of cancer of the pancreas was made, and an exploratory laparatomy performed on January 5, 1935. The head of the pancreas was found to be enlarged to three times its normal size. The process appeared to be inoperable and the prognosis hopeless. A biopsy of the tumour was done and the wound closed. A diagnosis of carcinoma of the pancreas was made by three pathologists.
The sisters of the order interceded with Mother Seton, deceased founder of the order, in a series of novenas to spare the life of Sister Gertrude so that she might continue in service. She began to improve in health and made rapid progress. She was discharged from the hospital on February 1 and returned to her duties on March 1.
For seven and a half years after the operation, she performed her arduous duties. She died suddenly on August 20, 1942. An autopsy was performed 36 hours after death in the laboratory of the DePaul Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, by Dr. Walter J. Siebert. The immediate cause of death was ascertained to be massive pulmonary embolism. There was no evidence of carcinoma of the pancreas.
Spontaneous Regressions: Scientific Documentation as a Basis for the Declaration of Miracles
Garner J
Canadian Medical Association Journal 111: Dec. 7 1974; 1254-1264
Extracted Summary
The author presents an overview of the history and miraculous healings which have been reported at Lourdes. The story began in February, 1858, when 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous was gathering firewood where the river runs beneath a rocky cliff. She heard a roaring, like the wind, and turned to see a lady wearing a white garment with a blue sash standing in a cave-like area part-way up the rocky cliff. The lady spoke in the local patois saying, “Would you do for me the grace of returning for 15 days?” No one else saw the lady, and the Church, after careful scrutiny, determined that Bernadette saw the lady 18 times. The lady said that she was the Immaculate Conception and requested that a spring be dug and that people should come and pray at that spot. The spring was dug and still flows.
In order for a healing to be classified as miraculous, five criteria must be met. First, it must be proved that the illness existed, and a diagnosis established. Second, it must be shown that the prognosis, with or without treatment, was poor; third, that the illness was serious and incurable; fourth, that the cure happened without convalescence, that it was virtually instantaneous, and, finally, that the cure was permanent. These criteria must be met by the Medical Bureau of Lourdes, the Church, and the diocese in which the “miracluee” lives.
At Lourdes, each case presented is reviewed by three panels of physicians. Since 1947, only 75 cases have been accepted at this first level. Of these, 52 were accepted by the second level, and only 27 were pronounced as scientifically inexplicable by the third level. After the panels of physicians have made their decision concerning the miraculous healing, the Church then makes a judgement as to whether these inexplicable cases are the result of divine intervention. The case is then sent to the local diocese where the local bishop sets up a commission to examine the evidence. These commissions are frequently more stringent than the medical panel at Lourdes since out of the 27 cases mentioned above, only 17 were pronounced miracles by the local diocese. To date, there have been 62 healings accepted as miracles.
The Quality of Meditation Effective in the Regression of Cancer
Meares, A.
American Society of Psychosomatic Dentristry and Medicine. Journal 25: 1978; 129-132
Extracted summary
The work of the Simontons at Fort Worth, U.S. A. and my own work here in Melbourne, Australia, show that cancer growth can be influenced by meditation. The purpose of this article is to describe that particular type of meditation which in my experience is most successful in its effect on cancer growth. Although my work has shown that cancer can be influenced by intensive meditation so that there has been clear evidence of regression of the growth and patients have lived far beyond the life expectancy estimated by experienced oncologists, it must be emphasized that it has not yet been fully established that it can be influenced to the point of cure.
Vivid Visualization and Dim Visual Awareness in the Regression of Cancer in Meditation
Meares, A.
American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine. Journal 25: 1978; 85 – 88
Extracted summary
The use of intensive meditation by a patient with advanced cancer was followed by remission of the disease. A relapse occurred when she accompanied the meditation with vivid visualization of healthy cells eating the cancer cells. The alertness caused by the visualization interfered with the state of regression needed for the therapeutic effect (activation of the immune system) of the meditation to occur.
Selected Case Report
A single woman of 49 persisted in the experiment and made an extraordinary remission. She had a history of pathologically proven carcinomas of both breasts. She had been given radical radiotherapy with initial regression of the tumours. However, they soon recurred and she developed radiologically proven metastases in the spine. She underwent oophorectomy. There was a remission of symptoms, but she relapsed again and had treatment with Laetril in Mexico. Her condition deteriorated and she required blood transfusions. Treatment with cytotoxic drugs had been strongly advised but the patient for reasons of her own declined treatment.
When I first saw her, she was frail, debilitated, in pain and unable to keep down her food. Her left breast was wooden and immoveable on the chest wall, and the skin over it was so tight that it appeared in danger of rupture. The right breast had large wooden lumps in it and the nipple was retracted and discharging. She was started on a program of intensive meditation. Her general condition continued to deteriorate for the first six weeks of her seeing me. She developed ascites which produced subacute obstruction of the bowel, and had to be tapped on two occasions. After the second paracentesis, her abdomen started to refill, but the fluid was reabsorbed. Appetite and strength returned. She put on weight and had no need of analgesics. The left breast became soft and the discharge from the right breast ceased.
At this stage, I went overseas for three and a half weeks and she almost immediately relapsed. The left breast became wooden-hard again, and the skin over it tense and discoloured. However, when she was brought to return to the extremely simple and profound form of meditation in which she was originally instructed, the breast began to soften, her general condition improved again, and she gained 25 pounds in weight.
When first seen by me, the patient was a humble little woman facing pain and death. As strength returned and it was clear that she was recovering from the cancer, her whole lifestyle changed. She gave interviews on television, radio and to the press. Her photograph was in the newspapers and she gave talks on how she beat cancer. In this burst of overconfidence, she departed from the profound simplicity of the type of meditation she had been taught. She improved upon it. She started to will the cancer to go away, so that she could clearly see the lump in her breasts getting smaller, and at other times, she would bring herself to visualize the good cells eating away the bad cancer cells. In fact, the patient, herself, had come to the idea of vivid visualization as a technique in meditation. She relapsed, but recovered again when she resumed the meditation of profound simplicity.