What Were You Thinking, BR? Why Mention Cancer on the Immune System Imagery?

Question:

Dear Belleruth,
I am very disappointed that you mentioned the word cancer in the Healthy Immune System program. I have lung disease and very much wanted to use the program with my own psychotherapy patients. I now see that this is out of the question. You should have warned your purchasers in advance that this was a cancer CD. I will have to return this. I expect a full refund.
Sincerely,
Lawrence P.

Dear Lawrence,
I’m sorry you feel sucker-punched by the mention of cancer in this imagery. I know the passage you are talking about, where cancer is mentioned. It’s this one:

And sensing, too, all the varieties of other elite troops that protect the body... marshalled from their many locations... with specialties of their own... some trained to identify chaotic, mutant cancer cells that will occasionally start to form.... knowing to quickly surround them ... and penetrate them with special poisons.... deftly and easily.... before they can begin to make trouble ....

Please keep in mind that during normal, daily immune cell patrol inside all healthy bodies, random, mutant cancer cells are spotted and eliminated (POW! ZAP! THUNK!) as a matter of course. This is an ongoing process, and it’s why most of us don’t wind up getting cancer, which is when a critical mass of thousands and thousands of these cells are allowed to multiply and accumulate enough presence to be perceived and to make trouble. So all this imagery is doing is reminding you of a normal process, going on inside your body 24/7, and encouraging you to imagine it in order to hopefully amplify it even more… same with the immune cells that attack bugs, germs, bacteria and other unwelcome guests.

So this brief mention of cancer cells is altogether appropriate for this recording, if it’s to do what it claims to do: support healthy immune function. No responsible imagery for general immune function should be without it.

I hope this explanation reassures you enough to go ahead and use the CD. If it still upsets you, you should probably trade it in for General Wellness, which does the same thing but in a more oblique, less targeted way.

All best wishes,
Belleruth

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written by Lynne H., June 23, 2009

I agree to a point with Lawrence P. Regardless of the physiology behind the reality of cancer cells, there are many cancer-specific CDs out there, and too few on general immune health. Often people with compromised immune systems are battling more than one issue simultaneously, or conversely, hypochondriacs may be battling none of these but worry that they do; I can see where persons in either category might take the mention of cancer to a place where you didn't intend. Sometimes I find that less is more when it comes to guided imagery.

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written by rthompson, June 23, 2009

I believe it is appropriate and even desirable to have the imagery relaetd to cancer cells included in "Healthy Immune' CD. Cancer strikes such fear in our minds, including it in this form helps to neutralize and normalize it's reality in our bodies while at the same time emphasizing the power and wisdom our bodies inherently have to handle such things. I am all for it's inclusion. Excluding it may reinforce fearful thinking about cancer (and our soul's work to find peace with our inevitable dying).

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written by Elizabeth Danu, June 23, 2009

I am somewhat nonplussed by the folks who find cancer a dirty word! As a cancer survivor who specifically asked for this CD, I am disappointed in this mindset. My continued wellness depends on my immune system being able to do what it wasn't able to do previously, for whatever reason. Cancer cells happen to everybody, and for those of us who are at more risk (because it already happened once) it is glaringly incomplete to leave it out.
Cancer is not leprosy! It's something that can happen to anyone if the immune system doesn't nip it in the bud. Thanks for a great CD.

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written by Maarten Aalberse, June 24, 2009

What a quality discussion this is. And I think that for therapists (me included) it is good to be reminded that some parts of the script can be upsetting a patient in a way not foreseen during the production of the CD.
Which it is maybe good to first read the script of the particular CD, with *this* specific patient in mind.

if I may jump on the occasion and add a little criticism (dwarfed by the great appreciation for the main part of the program): in the relaxation phase there is mention of breathing out "unwanted thoughts and emotions". Here IMO the listener is encouraged to collude with the part(s) in us that do not want (accept) certain thought and emotions. For me this not wanting is at the heart of much suffering and pathology. And these suggestions early on in the scripts dont cohere, IMO, either with the metaphoric exposure that the listener engages in later on.
If instead of "eliminating" you would have said something like "distancing from", I wouldn't have any objections at all.

But then, the "perfect CD" probably doesn't exist on the material plane. Elsewhere? I'm sure it does! In a more fluid form, adapted to specific circumstances.

Thank you so much, Belleruth, for being almost perfect :-).

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written by Belleruth, June 25, 2009

No need to tread so lightly and graciously re your critique, Maarten! I appreciate your comments - my great, late friend, Dr. Tom Cotulo used to say the same thing. From a mindfulness perspective, there is of course no such thing as an unacceptable or 'bad' experience. You notice without judgment and it moves on in its own way.
But there's a tension between that notion and the powerful, archetypal image that exists in all cultures through all time, of cleansing, clearing, releasing, washing away, rebirth. It was a judgment call - I love both poles of this particular tension - but I wound up voting for the imagery that would (I feel) be more potent for more people.
Thanks much for writing, all.

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written by Juidth Sweet, July 07, 2009

I agree with Maarten in particular, above; but the main important point from this discussion is that different things work for different folks. Sometimes it helps to just make your own tape/CD for your client/patient. (Not trying to undercut your sales, Belleruth!) Though I recommend Health Journey CDs to many of my patients with various condition, often I will make someone their own "personalize" tape based on their particular images and situation (also, some patients have told me that they prefer to hear my voice). I am oriented to this approach given my wonderful training in Integrative Imagery (TM) through Beyond Ordinary Nursing, which works with a client's own images and situation using mostly 1:1 techniques.
Thanks! great discussion!

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written by Alidis Deland, August 04, 2009

Most interesting discussion! I, too, have a visceral reaction to the word "cancer". I acknowledge it's not helpful to empower and shrink from the very thought of diseases - ones that we can often, though not always, overcome. Ultimately, I see stripping the word "cancer" of its power to make me retract as a highly important responsibility to myself.

At the same time, I might refrain from buying a visualization that makes a direct reference to cancer in the meantime. I don't want to fully open myself for guided imagery, only to flinch and feel assaulted by such a loaded word as I work to create a healing inner space for myself.

This is such an important topic that I wonder if it would be helpful, Belleruth, to create a visualization specifically about standing firm and whole while hearing the word "cancer" and working with this disease. I think there's a great need for this! And it would open the door to more intensive and explicit work for those of us who wonder if we have cancer.

On some level, we all live in "the gray zone"…

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written by Liz Blackgoat, August 21, 2009

I have been searching for imagery that could used purely for autoimmune disorders. Could this CD be adapted for this? I think bringing cancer into the equation changes the message.

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written by Lavalette, September 20, 2009

BelleRuth says take what you need & leave the rest. How can you be so ugly about it?

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