The immune system of a person with a positive attitude in life and living has a better chance of fighting off diseases compared to a person who exhibits fear and anxiety. Scientific studies have shown correlations between the amount of lymphocyte cells and an individual’s level of optimism.

This situation seems to be true with adults as well as children. A 2006 study involving 241 children aged 5 to 12 was conducted. These children, who were scheduled for outpatient surgeries, were evaluated based on levels of anxiety prior to surgery. Each child remained in the hospital for 24 hours after the surgery and their pain levels were assessed every 3 hours. The evaluation continues for 14 more days with pain medication standardized for everyone.

The results showed that the more anxious children prior to the surgeries have significantly more pain 3 days into the recovery period. They also consumed more pain medication, exhibited more anxiety and had problems sleeping.

These studies have shown that preoperative anxiety is a serious issue in both adults and children, one that needs to be addressed to better aid them in on the road back to health. In general, one can conclude that increased anxiety prior to surgery results in more anxiety, pain, and slower recovery.

Dental anxiety is another example of fear and anxiety affecting one’s health status. A number of studies have shown that patients who were highly anxious are more prone to visit their dentists irregularly and/or, worse, avoid dental care altogether. Statistics show that people with high levels of dental anxiety are more likely to have not been to the dentist in the last 2 years, and were more likely to miss, hesitate in making, or cancel their appointments. These individuals, even if they do attend regular dental visits, are likely to skip on the follow up appointments that are required to complete the dental treatment. This ironically results in a greater need for oral rehabilitation.

Dentally anxious patients tend to have more missing teeth and less filled teeth compared to non-anxious patients. This spiral situation can then lead to feelings of inferiority and shame which, in turn, result into greater anxiety and further avoidance of dental care.

Fear and anxiety also affects the more mature members of our communities. Some older individuals are fearful of becoming senile and suffering from dementia. Another fear is the fear of being hurt in a fall. This is due to the fact that a fall by an elderly person will have a far worse consequence compared to a similar fall in a younger person. This could lead them to fear falling any time they engage in some form of activity. The result is physical stagnation and frailty, in effect, the realization of the fear itself.

Clinical studies have documented that anxiety can actually intensify pain, prolong recovery and lower the effectiveness of the body’s immune system.

What can be done? There are psychological preparation programs that can be tailored to an individual’s specific needs. Guided imagery, for example, is a form of relaxation that uses stories and calming music. It can have a huge impact on stress levels by “gently guiding” a person to an imaginary place in the mind where he/she feels safe, peaceful and protected.

It has been shown in the 2006 study cited above that children aged 6 years and above will benefit most if they participate in a preparation program 5 days or more before a medical procedure. This is attributed to the way that children in this age group process new information.

PreEmptive Healing is a unique tool developed by board certified anaesthesiologist Anthony DeMarco that employs the mind-body connection to prepare your body for optimal healing before, during and after a medical, dental or surgical procedure. Preliminary research has already confirmed this system’s success and PreEmptive Healing is continuing to help bring healing and relief of anxiety to more and more people every day.

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The human body already has the perfect healing system. It has the innate capability to deal with the most adverse of conditions. It identifies and eliminates toxins, germs, even cancer cells on a daily basis and in the most efficient manner. The human body is able to synthesize any painkiller, antibiotic, and antidepressant that are manufactured by drug companies. In addition, the dosage is always right, given on time, and has minimal or no side-effects, at all.

But what limits this perfect healing system? Negative emotions, anxiety, anger, and sadness as well as limiting beliefs expressed in non-supportive self-talk in the vein of “I can’t do this” and “I don’t deserve this” prevents us from accessing this resource. Medical studies have shown that negative emotions contribute greatly to the development of ailments such as heart diseases, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, as well as cancer. Positive thinking and optimistic beliefs, on the other hand, have been known to stimulate and enhance the healing process.

This mind-body connection has been further advanced with the discovery of neurotransmitters, small proteins that are released in the body in response to a person’s thoughts and feelings. These proteins not only bathe every cell in the human body, they also control the functioning of those cells.

Each individual has experienced physical pain at one point or another. For some, however, pain can be both severe and persistent and develop into chronic pain.

Traditional medicine offers two modes of treatment for this type of pain: surgery and medication. However, surgery, while beneficial in some cases, is not always a viable option. Medication, aimed at reducing the inflammation or suppressing the symptoms, does not address the underlying causes. Generally, medication is most useful for short-term treatments. Long-term reliance on medication can result in toxic side effects.

Dr. John Sarno, the former director of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in New York, discovered that the majority of musculoskeletal pains were, in fact, tension-related, and not due to any structural damage. He referred to this condition as tension myoneural syndrome (TMS) [Sarno J. Healing back pain, New York: Warner Books, 1991].

He points out that the body’s own autonomic nervous system is, in fact, responsible for most chronic pain conditions. He theorizes that the pain being experienced is the mind’s defense mechanism against unconscious mental stress. The sufferer is distracted by the physical pain which prevents the conscious awareness of the mental stressor. The physical pain experienced by the patient blocks out the emotional pain. The body’s autonomic nervous system controls blood flow circulation. The absence of sufficient blood flow to a particular tissue results in reduced oxygen levels, which, in turn, is felt as pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, et cetera. These symptoms, which can occur in the neck, knee and other parts of the human anatomy, tend to migrate to other parts of the body. This migration, once observed, is also an important indicator that it is TMS.

Some people, to distract themselves from difficult emotions, will resort to overeating, smoking, drinking, drugs, et cetera. These activities shift an individual’s focus from emotional pain to a different sensation, in much the same way that physical pain is the mind’s way of shifting the focus for us.

Repressed emotions could stem from certain childhood experiences like abuse or lack of love; personality traits like perfectionism, conscientiousness, or the need to be liked by everyone; pressures of daily living; aging and mortality; as well as instances of conscious but unexpressed anger.

Understanding the various causes of this type of pain permits the development of effective methodologies for pain management.

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