The North American health care system's next evolution is from
a disease management system to a biopsychosocial health care system that
embraces the mind-body connection to bring it closer in-line with what we are
learning about our own biology.
In 1977 psychiatrist George L. Engel at the University of
Rochester, stated "the need for a new medical model" in an article he wrote for Science magazine. He called for a biopsychosocial
model for the investigation and treatment not only of mental disorders but also
physical disease. The
biological-psychological-sociological model is based on the premise that human
beings are biological beings who feel, think, imagine, act, and interact with
others in sometimes complex relationships. Our brains are not separate from our bodies or each other
and each element affects the others, sometimes in profound ways.
In her 2005 book, “The Body Never Lies - The Lingering Effects of Cruel Parenting” Dr Alice Miller cites dozens of case histories of the famous and not
so famous who developed physical disease as a direct result of abuse suffered
as children. Many of the cases
were her own patients who were suffering from diseases as grim as cancer that
was diagnosed terminal by physicians.
Yet these patients saw their disease go into remission or even vanish
once the psychological problems caused by their childhood abuse was
successfully treated.
Though many mental health practitioners like Miller have
pursued the biopsychosocial model since Engel first proposed the idea, the
medical community has been glacially slow to embrace it.
Dr Gabor Maté, a best selling
author and world-renowned leader in mind-body wellness, recently delivered two
seminars in Penticton, BC, hosted by the Penticton & District Community
Resources Society.
Maté reported that he had recently been invited to speak by
students at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. When he described the biopsychosocial
model - the mind-body connection - none of the students had heard of it. This
model is not yet included as part of medical training despite decades of
research producing compelling evidence to support it.
With the advent of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the
early 1980s, we began to be able to see within the living human brain and in
recent years actually witness it functioning. What we found in the images generated startled the medical
community and confirmed what many in the mental health field have suspected for
decades; psychological and sociological events physically impact both the brain
and body.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can occur after a
person experiences a shocking, sometimes life-threatening event. Individuals affected develop a cluster
of symptoms that include; anxiety, hypervigilance, avoidance of things that
remind them of the event, nightmares, flashbacks, and panic attacks that
combined we call PTSD. As time
goes on they also develop difficulties with concentration and memory.
MRI images of those suffering with Post-Traumatic Stress
clearly show that in these individuals the cortex (executive function) has grown thinner and the hippocampus (memory
storage and retrieval) has shrunk,
indicating that their mental state is not due to a “disorder” but an actual
physical injury caused by a horrific experience. The shock of the traumatic event causes the brain to become
“plastic” and change its structure in the form of an injury without direct physical
contact. The term for this is
neuroplasticity and it is a double-edged sword.
More recent MRI studies on sufferers of PTSD indicated that
Mindfulness practice also promotes neuroplasticity and saw the cortex of
participating trauma patients thicken by 10% and their hippocampus grow by 25%
after only 18 weeks of treatment.
We are learning that what can be done, can be undone by
connecting the body to the mind and the mind to the body.
A research study just released in 2013, (see: The Deep Wounds of Early Childhood Trauma), has shown that trauma also affects the
expression of our DNA itself; Early childhood trauma negatively impacts brain
development and our immune system, while trauma later in life changes how our
very cells grow or die. In both
instances, physical health is negatively impacted by psychological trauma, and
in both, the successful treatment of the trauma improves physical health.
Seeing this growing body of evidence, some clinicians are
coming to realize that the old mechanical model of the human brain as a
separate independent organ is incorrect.
The body and brain are integral parts of the same interconnected system
and we need to recognize that in order to work toward a holistic health system
that promotes wellness both psychologically and physically.
The scientific evidence is there, all we need are some bold
leaders in the medical community to embrace it.
Aaron D. McClelland, RPC - www.interiorcounselling.com/aaron
