Regression Of Cancer After Intensive Meditation Followed By Death
Medical Journal of Australia 2: 1977; 374-375
View Original Source →Abstract
It is now recognized that psychological factors may play a significant role in the etiology and progress of neoplastic disease, and in recent years hypnosis has been utilized as a therapeutic agent against the illness. This paper discusses an 1846 report of what may be the first association of hypnosis with the remission of a medically diagnosed breast tumor in a young female patient. Several possible explanations for this development are considered, including misdiagnosis, spontaneous remission, and mechanisms within the body’s immune system.
Case Details
Clinical Characteristics
Patient with advanced cancer, experienced regression of metastases following intensive meditation, relapsed, made a second remission, developed ascites, admitted to hospital for paracentesis, elected to have chemotherapy, died within a few days
Remission Characteristics
Made a dramatic remission following intensive meditation, made a second remission when her faulty style of meditation was corrected
Treatment & Mechanisms
Proposed Remission Mechanisms
Cancer growth can be influenced by intensive meditation
Clinical Treatment
Chemotherapy
Non-Clinical Treatment
Intensive meditation
Additional Notes
The patient's death indirectly supports the idea that cancer growth can be influenced by intensive meditation. The patient relapsed when she became emotionally involved in another treatment and lost her ability for effective meditation. Her acceptance of chemotherapy, which she had previously rejected, seems to have been an outward expression of her new-found doubts about the meditation.