The Fear Of Ill Health
This fear may be traced back to both physical and social heredity. It is closely associated, as to it origin, with the causes of fear of old age and the fear of death, because it leads one closely to the border of “terrible worlds” of which people knows not, but concerning which you know have been taught some discomforting stories, people have engaged in the business of “selling health” by keeping alive the fear of ill health.
People’s fears of ill health because of the terrible pictures which have been planted in our minds of what may happen if death should overtake them. We also fear it because of the economic toll which it may claim.
A very reputable physician estimated that 75% of all people who visit physicians for professional service are suffering from hypochondria (imaginary illness). It has been shown most convincingly that the fear of disease, even where there is not the slightest cause for fear, often produces the physical symptoms of the disease feared.
Powerful and mighty is a person’s mind!!! It builds or it destroys!!!
Playing upon this common weakness of fear of ill health, dispensers of patent medicines have reaped fortunes. This form of imposition upon credulous humanity became so prevalent some decades ago that Collier’s magazine conducted a bitter campaign against some of the worst offenders in the patent medicine business.
Through a series of experiments conducted some years ago, it was proven that people may be made ill by suggestion. We conducted this experiment by causing three acquaintances to visit the “victims,” each of whom asked the question, “what ails you? You look terribly ill.” The first questioner usually provoked a grin, and a nonchalant “Oh, nothing, I’m all right,” from the victim. The second question usually was answered with the statement, “I don’t know exactly, but I do feel badly.” The third questioner was usually met with the frank admission that the victim was actually feeling ill.
Try this on an acquaintance if you doubt that it will make him uncomfortable, but do not carry the experiment too far. There is a certain religious sect whose members take vengeance upon their enemies by the “hexing” method. They call it “placing a spell” on the victim.
There is overwhelming evidence that diseases sometimes begin in the form of negative thought impulse. Such an impulse may be passed from one mind to another, by suggestion, or created by an individual in his own mind.
A person who was blessed with more wisdom than this incident might indicate, once said, “When anyone asks me how I feel, I always want to answer by knocking him down.”
Too often doctors send patients into new climates for their health, because a change of “mental attitude” is necessary. The seed of fear of ill health lives in every person’s mind. Worry, fear, discouragement, disappointment in love and business affairs cause this seed to germinate and grow.
Disappointments in business and in love stand at the head of the list of causes of fear of ill health. A young man suffered a disappointment in love which sent him to a hospital. For months he hovered between life and death. A specialist in psychotherapy was called in. The specialist changed nurses, placing him in charge of a very charming young woman who began (by prearrangement with the doctor) to make love to him the first day of her arrival on the job. Within three weeks the patient was discharged from the hospital, still suffering, but with an entirely different malady. He was in love again. The remedy was a hoax, but the patient and the nurse were later married.
Symptoms of the Fear of Ill Health.
The symptoms of this almost universal fear are:
Autosuggestion — The habit of negative use of self-suggestion by looking for, and expecting to find the symptoms of all kinds of diseases. “Enjoying” imaginary illness and speaking of it as being real. The habit of trying all “fads: and “ism” recommended by others as having therapeutic value. Talking to others about operations, accidents and other forms of illness. Experimenting with diets, physical exercises, reducing systems without professional guidance. Trying home remedies, patent medicines and “quack” remedies.
Hypochondria — The habit of talking of illness, concentrating the mind upon disease, and expecting its appearance until a nervous break occurs. Nothing that comes in bottles can cure this condition. It is brought on by negative thinking and nothing but positive thought can affect a cure. Hypochondria (a medical term for imaginary disease) is said to do as much damage on occasion as the disease one fears might do. Most s0-called cases of “nerves” come from imaginary illness.
Exercise — Fear of ill health often interferes with proper physical exercise, and results in being overweight, by causing one to avoid outdoor life.
Susceptibility — Fear of ill health breaks down nature’s body resistance, and creates a favorable condition for any form of disease one may contact.
The fear of ill health often is related to the fear of poverty, especially in the case of the hypochondriac, who constantly worries about the possibility of having to pay doctor’s bills, hospital bills, etc. This type of person spends much time preparing for sickness, talking about death, saving money for cemetery lots and burial expenses, etc.
Self-Codding — The habit of making a bid for sympathy, using imaginary illness as the lure. (People often resort to this trick to avoid work.) The habit of feigning illness to cover plain laziness. or to serve as an alibi for lack of ambition.
Intemperance — The habit of using alcohol or narcotics to destroy pains such as headaches, neuralgia, etc., instead of eliminating the cause.
The habit of reading about illness and worrying over the possibility of being stricken by it. The habit of reading patent medicine advertisements.
Next, we are going to dive into how the Fear of Loss of Love, will have an impact on your happiness.
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