靈與藥

by Lissa Rankin

What if the key to health isnt just eating a nutritious diet， exercising daily， maintaining a healthy weight， getting eight hours of sleep， taking your vitamins， balancing your 1）hormones， or seeing your doctor for 2）regular checkups？ What if you have the power to heal your body just by changing how your mind thinks and feels？

I know it sounds radical， especially coming from a doctor. Trust me， I was just as skeptical when I first discovered the scientific research suggesting that this might be true. Surely， I thought， the health of the human body isnt as simple as thinking ourselves well or worrying ourselves sick. Or is it？

A few years ago， after 12 years of conventional medical education and eight years of clinical practice， I had been thoroughly 3）indoctrinated into the dogmatic principles of evidence-based medicine， which I worshipped like the Bible. I refused to trust anything I couldnt prove with a randomized， controlled clinical trial. Plus， having been raised by my father， a very conventional physician who made fun of anything “New Age，”I was as 4）hard-nosed， closed-minded， and cynical as they come. The medicine I had been trained to practice didnt support the idea that you can think yourself well or make yourself sick with the power of your thoughts and emotions. Sure， my medicalschool professors diagnosed some illnesses that lacked biochemical explanations as “all in the patients head，” but those patients were promptly and quietly referred to psychiatrists， while eyes were rolled and heads were shook.

Its no wonder the notion that the mind might have the power to heal the body would be threatening to many mainstream doctors. After all， we spend a decade learning the tools that supposedly give us mastery over other peoples bodies. We want to believe that the time， money， and energy weve put into becoming doctors isnt wasted. Were professionally and emotionally invested in the idea that if something breaks down physically， you must seek our expertise. As doctors， we like to believe we know your body better than you do. The whole medical establishment is based on such a notion.

Most people are happy to function within this paradigm. The alternative—that you have more power to heal your own body than youve ever imagined—lobs the responsibility for health back into your court， and many people feel like thats just too much responsibility. Its much easier to hand over your power and hope someone smarter， wiser， and more experienced can “fix” you. But what if weve got it all wrong？ What if， by denying the fact that the body is naturally wired to heal itself and the mind operates this self-healing system， were actually 5）sabotaging ourselves？

As physicians， things inevitably happen on our watch that science simply cant explain. Even the most closed-minded doctors witness patients who get well when， by every scientific 6）rationale， they shouldnt. When we witness such things， we cant help questioning everything we hold dear in modern medicine. We start to wonder if there is something more mystical at play. Doctors dont usually discuss this possibility in front of patients， but they do whisper about it in the doctorslounges of hospitals and inside conference rooms at 7）Ivy League universities. If youre curious and you pay attention—like I do—you hear stories， stories that blow your mind.

You hear people whispering about the woman whose cancer shrank away to nothingness during radiation. Only afterward did the doctors discover that the radiation machine was busted. She hadnt actually received one lick of radiation， but she believed she had. So did her doctors.

They talk about the man who had a heart attack who refused heart surgery only to have his “incurably” blocked coronary 8）arteries open up after changing his diet， beginning an exercise program， doing yoga， meditating daily， and attending group therapy sessions.

As I heard these stories， I couldnt ignore the gnawing voice within me. Surely， these people couldnt all be liars. But if they werent lying， the only explanation was something beyond what I had learned in conventional medicine. It got me thinking. We know spontaneous， unexplainable remissions sometimes happen. Every doctor has witnessed them. We just shrug our shoulders and go on about our business， usually accompanied by a dull， unnerving sense of dissatisfaction because we cant explain the remission with logic. But in the back of my mind， Ive always 9）pondered whether its possible we have any control over this process. If the “impossible” happens to one person， is there anything we can learn from what that person did？ Are there similarities among the patients who get “l(fā)ucky”？ Are there ways to optimize the chances of spontaneous remission， especially when effective treatment doesnt exist in the standard medical toolbox？ And what， if anything， can doctors do to facilitate this process？

如果有人告訴你：“保持身體健康的秘訣不僅僅是要有一個營養(yǎng)豐富的飲食習(xí)慣，堅(jiān)持每日鍛煉，保持正常體重，睡夠八小時，補(bǔ)充維生素，平衡荷爾蒙，定期看醫(yī)生?！蹦銜趺纯矗咳绻f你自己本身就有治愈疾病的力量，而這一力量的實(shí)現(xiàn)，只需改變你的想法和感覺，你又怎么看？

我知道，這聽起來有些激進(jìn)，尤其這些竟是出自一位醫(yī)生之口。請你相信：當(dāng)我初次發(fā)覺一些科學(xué)研究證實(shí)這一觀點(diǎn)有可能正確時，我也持懷疑態(tài)度。當(dāng)然，我認(rèn)為保持身體健康不僅僅是“想象我們很健康，或是擔(dān)心我們生病”這么簡單。還是說，就是這么簡單？

幾年前，也就是在我經(jīng)過十二年傳統(tǒng)醫(yī)科學(xué)習(xí)和八年臨床實(shí)踐之后，我被徹底灌輸了“循證醫(yī)學(xué)”的教條，并視這些教條為醫(yī)學(xué)領(lǐng)域的《圣經(jīng)》。我只相信那些通過隨機(jī)對比臨床實(shí)驗(yàn)證明的事情。此外，我由父親撫養(yǎng)長大，他是一位十分守舊的醫(yī)生，常常取笑一切號稱“新紀(jì)元”的事物。因此，對于新事物的出現(xiàn)，我也是嗤之以鼻，不聞不問，甚至冷言嘲笑。我所接受的醫(yī)學(xué)教育從未證實(shí)這樣的觀點(diǎn)——人可以單憑思想和情感就能治病或得病。當(dāng)然，我的醫(yī)學(xué)教授們也曾碰到過一些缺乏生化理據(jù)的疾病，他們稱其為“全由患者大腦控制”。于是，那些患者被馬上悄悄地轉(zhuǎn)介去看精神科醫(yī)生；與此同時，他們只是翻翻白眼搖搖頭。

思想可以治愈身體疾病的這一論調(diào)，無疑會對許多主流醫(yī)生造成威脅。畢竟，我們這些醫(yī)生花費(fèi)了十幾年的時間和精力來學(xué)習(xí)如何從醫(yī)，所以我們理應(yīng)比患者更懂得他們的身體。我們當(dāng)然不愿看到我們學(xué)醫(yī)這么些年所花費(fèi)的時間、金錢和精力都化為枉然。于是，我們不論在專業(yè)還是情感上都大力宣揚(yáng)這樣的觀點(diǎn)：如果你的身體生病了，你必須尋求我們醫(yī)生的專業(yè)指導(dǎo)。作為醫(yī)生，我們理所當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為我們比你更加了解你的身體。何況，整個醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)都是建構(gòu)在這種信念之上的。

而且，大多數(shù)人樂于接受這種模式。與之相對的觀點(diǎn)——你自己擁有更強(qiáng)大的力量來治愈你的疾病，這種力量超乎你想象，這無異于是將守衛(wèi)健康的責(zé)任球拋回自己的場地。很多人會覺得這個責(zé)任太大，害怕?lián)?fù)不起。相比之下，你會將你的權(quán)利和希望交給那些比你更聰明、更有智慧和經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人，因?yàn)檫@種做法會相對容易些。但是，如果我們都錯了呢？如果我們否認(rèn)身體有自愈的能力，并且這一自愈能力是由思想控制的，我們是不是在蓄意破壞我們自己呢？

即使作為醫(yī)生，我們也只能無可奈何地看著一些事情發(fā)生，卻不能作出任何科學(xué)解釋。即使是最保守的醫(yī)生也曾見證過一些病人通過自身治愈了疾病，本來按科學(xué)理據(jù)那是不可能的。當(dāng)我們經(jīng)歷這些事情時，我們不禁質(zhì)疑我們所崇信的現(xiàn)代醫(yī)學(xué)中的一切。于是，我們開始思考難道真的存在更為神秘的力量？醫(yī)生們不會在病人面前討論這類事情，但他們會在醫(yī)生的休息室里或是常春藤盟校的會議室密談這種種可能。如果你像我一樣充滿好奇、留心聆聽，你肯定也能聽到形形色色的故事，那些故事會令你十分震驚。

你會聽到人們在悄悄議論一位婦女在接受放療后，她的癌細(xì)胞減少為零?？墒?，之后醫(yī)生們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)她的放療機(jī)器一直是壞的。因此，她沒有接受到絲毫放療，而她自己卻一直認(rèn)為在接受治療。醫(yī)生也這么想。

他們討論那個得了心肌梗塞的男人，這是一種不可治愈的心臟病?？伤芙^心臟手術(shù)，最后他憑借自己的力量打通了動脈。而這一奇跡僅僅是靠他改變飲食、開始運(yùn)動、學(xué)習(xí)瑜伽、每日冥想，和參加團(tuán)體心理治療實(shí)現(xiàn)的。

聽著這些故事，我不能忽視內(nèi)心那個揮之不去的聲音。當(dāng)然，那些人不可能全部都在撒謊。但是，如果他們沒有撒謊，那唯一的解釋就是我所學(xué)的傳統(tǒng)醫(yī)學(xué)之外的力量在起作用。這讓我不得不思考。我們知道有時會發(fā)生一些自發(fā)的、不可解釋的癌細(xì)胞減少情況。并且，每個醫(yī)生都見證過這些奇跡，但我們僅僅是聳聳肩，繼續(xù)忙著各自的事情。此時，我們常常會暗暗覺得不爽氣餒，因?yàn)樽鳛獒t(yī)生，我們不能用邏輯來解釋這些癌細(xì)胞減少的現(xiàn)象。但是我常常深思：我們是否真的可能控制這整個過程。如果這種“不可能”確實(shí)發(fā)生在了某個人身上，我們是否可以從他身上學(xué)到一些什么？那些獲得“幸運(yùn)”的病人之間有沒有相似性呢？尤其在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)醫(yī)學(xué)治療中并不存在十分有效的治療的情況下，是否存在著一些方法可以提高癌細(xì)胞減少的機(jī)率呢？如果有可能的話，醫(yī)生又可以做些什么來促進(jìn)這一過程呢？