The Empowerment Centre & Jenifer Shapiro   

 

Integrative Resources for Self and Spiritual Empowerment.  

Individual Services Classes/ Workshops Professional Training Holistic Resources
Sign-up for our FREE Newsletter

See a Sample here.

Enter email here:

 

 ----------------

 ----------------

 ----------------

 

 

 

The Problem With Naming and Illness

 

 

We don’t usually think of it, but we have a practice that everyone learns from birth which actually helps us to create the world around us. It’s the process of naming.

 

We name our foods, so that we know what to ask for, and what not to. We have names so we can welcome one another. We name our pets, our feelings, our thoughts. Naming is a constant internal reference point for us, in fact, every moment of every day we are using names we have accepted to identify the world around us.

 

Think about it for a minute, everything around you has a name and, if you don’t know what to call it, it has a standardized name we use for unnamed items like ‘thing’ or ‘stuff’.

 

We like our names for things, they make us feel secure. When we know how to call something, it eases an internal tension. When we don’t know what to call something or something we don’t recognize enters our world, we feel stress and sometimes even fear.

 

Imagine if an unrecognized animal walked in front of you. It may be the size of a raccoon, furry like a dog, red like a cardinal and have sharp spikes like a porcupine but if a furry, spikey, red animal the size of raccoon started walking quickly toward you, I would expect you will feel a little scared.  I know I would.

 

Now there are positive aspects of naming beyond the offering of ways to understand our world they also help us to understand one another.  They give us reference points to work from and they allow for us to better communicate our personal experiences.

 

The problem with naming occurs when it’s used in ways that invoke fear or limitation. In my line of work, this happens mostly in medical situations where naming is used in what I consider potentially damaging ways.  You see, to name something outside of us such as a ball or clock or food, allows the unconscious mind to create a natural barrier.  For example there is a blue ball 5 feet in front of me.  This is something that I understand that is outside of myself therefore while I can connect with it, it doesn't define any aspect of me unless I choose for it to.  I can choose to engage with it and pick it up or I can choose to walk away from it and either way, it doesn't become part of me.

 

It is different when we feel a personalized connection to what is named.  Truly, there are two sides to this problem: when there isn't a name for the experience, and when a name becomes an incorrect generalization that causes fear.

 

When There Is No Name

 

Let's start with an example of the problems that can arise when there is no name for the ailment you may be experiencing. 

 

For example, if you are having pain and the doctor cannot find a problem he/she understands, the doctor usually says nothing is wrong with you.  Yet you, the patient, are still having pain so then what happens?  The pain doesn't usually just go away because the doctor cannot put a name to it.  What often happens, unfortunately, is that when the client leaves the office they are left feeling vulnerable and feeling like they shouldn't have pain.  They may then try to numb the pain rather than listen to it and ultimately, it can become worse until they REALLY need help.  By that point there is a fear and mistrust of doctors because how can they go back to someone when they are in pain when that doctor told them there was nothing wrong?  It's a dangerous and personally damaging loop both emotionally and physically.

 

What we all need to recognize and honor here is that just because there isn't a name for it, doesn't make the EXPERIENCE any less valid.   We need to start basing our healthcare on the experience of the individual, which I'll get into more later in this article.

 

When the Name Doesn't Fit

 

Now let's look at the other side of naming, when the name doesn't fit the person's experience and instills fear in the individual.

 

We need to understand the psychology behind this as naming an illness differs from naming something outside of ourselves like the blue ball. When I doctor uses a name for an illness and then tells us that name is within our bodies, it creates a level of insecurity for the patient.  Here is a professional in a state of power telling someone that something they often cannot see is harming them and they know how to fix it through often scary procedures and drugs. There are many challenges here and the most problematic is the limitation of any name of an illness.

 

For example, the word cancer is often used in the world today. In fact, google just that word and you get around 300 million hits. Yet what that word invokes in most people is the fear of death when the truth is, the definition of cancer is a malignant cell. Everyone’s experience of the malignant cell is different, many have no symptoms and never will as cells heal on their own every day. Some will go to a doctor, be named, and once named, believe their life is over. This is the power of a name and I believe this kills more people than it saves. And I believe this needs to change.

 

Options Beyond Naming in Healthcare

 

As a homeopath I really do like our way of doing things better. While I am all for integrative medicine and not usually choosing one side over the other, this is one of those times I’m going to make a choice as frankly, I feel the holistic/ homeopathic outlook is much healthier.

 

As a homeopath, we try not to name illnesses.  In fact, most often when a client tells me they have X disease, I tell them I really don't care about the name as the so-called disease is not my client.  Instead, I look deeply at the experience of the individual. Truth is that two people with an illness that is named by the medical community will manifest it very differently.  For example, I've worked with clients with lyme's disease for over a decade and in this time period of seeing clients 5-6 days per week have NEVER seen two completely identical cases.  Yes, there have been times when symptoms may have been similar, yes there are times I may draw on past experience to clear symptoms of a current case, however, I always take the client as a unique individual needing unique treatment I never treat two clients with the exactly the same.   

 

Treating the Person, Not the Disease

 

This view is in opposition to traditional medicine that tries to find a remedy for the illness which completely negates the person’s individual makeup. Allopathic medicine treats the disease, not the person.  It makes sense then that a standard doctor usually looks for a name because from that name, they can treat the illness per what they have been taught is the correct way to do so.  This is one of the critical aspects of where traditional medicine could learn from alternative medicine.

 

If I instead NAMED the individual as lyme's disease and had one way of treating it, I'd never have true success.  What I would have is something I could package, sell and hope that a percentage of clients could make use of.  Yes, that is marketing at its best, BUT IT IS NOT healing.  It's also not human in my estimation.

 

IMAGINE

 

Imagine a world where we treated the person, instead of automatically attacking the illness. We are not computers, we should not be focusing on attacking the virus directly and ignoring the host. This kills the host on many levels of mind, body and spirit and it’s time we start shifting our attention to the person in front of us.  We are people, and for a society that focuses so much on individuality in the media, we are sorely missing that critical component in our healthcare system. 

 

I hope you found this article useful and wish you a happy, healthy, individually-fulfilling holiday season!

 
   
 © 2005 Copyright The Empowerment Centre, LLC

Sitemap | Contact Us