Coping Techniques

The management of any chronic, debilitating illness for which there is no adequate treatment is difficult for the people with the illness and their doctors. Basic management strategies include treatment of symptoms, lifestyle adjustments and coping techniques. It is into this last category that relaxation and meditation fall. Increasingly, relaxation and meditation techniques are being incorporated into management programs for people with either life threatening or long term illnesses. The advantages of these methods are that they are inexpensive, they are drug-free, and they have the potential to significantly enhance an individual's ability to cope with the situations that arise as a result of the illness.


What is Involved?

Relaxation techniques usually focus on relaxing the muscles throughout the body, to reduce the tension that may be present in different parts. Relaxation exercises can generate a feeling of well-being, and can provide some mental relaxation as well. Meditation is really an extension of this: the aim is to rest the mind, and bodily relaxation is used as a means to this end.

While there are several different meditation techniques, two basic types are commonly used by people dealing with health problems. Both involve initial deep physical relaxation. One type then aims to achieve stillness of the mind, where the mind can rest from everyday thoughts and distractions. Meditation of this sort is particularly useful as a coping method. The other type of meditation involves visualising healing symbols and images, eg. thinking of pure white light flowing through the body, restoring and healing as it flows. This is a more active meditation technique, although it is also deeply relaxing.

Unfortunately, meditation has become caught up in popular stereotypes and is often associated with exotic (and difficult!) postures, Eastern mysticism, and hippies. Fortunately, the practice of meditation is extremely simple and does not require knowledge of, or association with, any of these things.


Benefits

The benefits of meditation will vary from individual to individual. Many people with a long term illness who regularly practise meditation find that one of the most important improvements they make is in their ability to cope with their illness, regardless of whether or not they make any physical improvement.

There can be significant psychological consequences of a disabling illness like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). In addition to losing their health, people with CFS may lose their jobs or ability to attend school, they may lose their social life and friends, and sometimes even their families. A whole range of stresses are added, and can contribute to negative emotions such as anger, frustration, sadness, loneliness and despair. As well as this, there are the unanswered questions: "Why did I get this illness?", "How long is it going to last?", "Why doesnít it go away?", "How am I going to manage?", and so on. These thoughts arise naturally enough in a persisting illness, and may create tension and anxiety partly because they cannot be answered.

A common consequence of meditation is that by just resting the mind for a while each day, these thoughts and emotions assume less importance and occur less frequently. These psychological aspects, which have occurred because of the physical illness, may cause some people more suffering than the physical illness itself. Leading CFS researcher Professor Anthony Komaroff of Harvard Medical School has noted that: "So much human suffering involves a psychological response to physical illness."

For people with any medical illness, the ideal situation is to experience the physical illness without the ensuing negative psychological response. Meditation can help to diminish the psychological reaction, although it may have no impact on the underlying disease.

It is important to realise that meditation is not a process of suppressing or denying negative thoughts or experiences. It can best be likened to dissolving them, like dissolving an Alka-Seltzer tablet in a glass of water. The emotions will fizz around and create turbulence, but a regular practise of meditation can help restore clarity and peace. Your experiences and emotions are still there, but they are not 'clouding the water'.

No-one can claim that by meditating you can cure yourself of CFS, or even make any improvement in your physical health. However, by reducing stress and tempering the unpleasant emotions that you may experience, meditation may improve your quality of life, and perhaps promote a better environment in which physical improvement can occur.

There are many books available on relaxation and meditation. One that I have found useful is Peace of Mind by Ian Gawler (published by Hill of Content). It is a good starting point if you wish to pursue meditation as an illness management technique.

Reprinted from Emerge, September 1995.