Patients Get to Be Right!

Are you thinking about that one patient that you couldn’t help, and wondering why nothing worked? Are you fed up with arguing with patients about why they aren’t getting better? Do you wonder why some patients get better so quickly, while others stay stuck?

The secret is…. They get to be right. It is that simple. The power of the mind can produce miracles. There are plenty of studies on a patient’s mood affecting treatment. Think of the person who tells themselves they are going to conquer cancer, and they do. There are case studies on a perfectly healthy individual receiving the wrong lab tests at the doctor’s office and mysteriously start exhibiting symptoms of that imaginary disease.

In my personal practice I had quite a few patients seek me out for treatment because they knew something was wrong with them. One case in particular stands out, I will call him Fred. Fred has seen every different type of western doctor there was. Their last specialist appointment was with an internist, who ran some specialized tests I had to research what they meant. Every doctor, every lab test concluded that she was perfectly healthy and it was all in his mind. With every doctor his symptoms kept getting worse.

So, he pulled a hail Mary, and booked a Naturopathic appointment with me. He brought in every single lab test he has received for the last year. Marked every minute change in lab tests to prove to me something was wrong. I looked through the thick stacks of lab tests, and flat out told him that I am not going to go about this in terms of modern medicine. You have seen the best of the best and I believe what they concluded. He was shaking uncontrollably, reported sudden loss consciousness, and numbness in his legs.

I gently told him, “I will look through these more in depth later, right now I want to put some acupuncture needles in and have you tell me what is going through your mind.” After pouring his soul out on the treatment table for an hour, he concluded that if something doesn’t change that they feel like they are going to die. And I believed him.

This is a patient that will die to be right. Fortunately, his case was an easy diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Once he was given a diagnosis, he got better very quickly. Quicker than I would have suspected one to get better, with that diagnosis. Reflecting back on this case now, I know that this patient was a prime example of how far people will go to be right.

The very fact that this patient believed with every single cell in their body that something was wrong, meant they started declining in health. That is how powerful the mind is.

The placebo effect is a wonderful example of the power of the mind. You take a sugar pill and the body heals itself. You think you are taking the medication and yet the body healed itself. Most clinicians write off the placebo effect rather than hear the calling of the ability of the body to heal itself through the mind.

Let that resonate. The mind that powerful. Your thoughts effect your physiology, mood, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Positive thoughts foster healing, happiness and health. Negative thoughts over time lead to anger, resentment, cancer, and disease.

Knowing this consciously and communicating this with your patients doesn’t mean that they are going to miraculously heal. What I need you to hear is that they get to be right. If they want to get better they will, and you will have wonderous results with your healing modalities.

If they have decided that it is impossible or don’t truly want to get better, they won’t. Patients will fight you tooth and nail and tell you why they can’t follow your treatment plan. I invite you to tell them they get to be right. Dr. Tad James said it best, “If people started to fight for their magnificence half as much as they fought for their limitations, then miracles would be an everyday occurrence”.

Look back at your resistant cases through this lens. I bet you will find that they are fighting for their limitations, and that they are right.

What changed after reading this blog? Are you looking at your “difficult” cases in a new way? Do you have any questions for me? Book a discovery call with me. We can have a tea and talk about how everyone gets to be right, period.