A Case Presentation: Fighting Bacteria And Viruses

    Since early age, I used to suffer from upper respiratory infections a few times a year. Each episode lasted from seven to ten days. I suffered from a stuffy nose, sneezing and coughing. The worse time was at night, when I was forced to lie on my back while my head rested on a high pillow.

    By the end of the 60s, I arrived in New York to complete my studies of Psychology. The major theoretical method we studied was psychoanalysis. It is considered as long-term psychotherapy, based on investigating childhood experiences, while the therapist's involvement is very passive. It is referred to as "Then and There Technique." During that period new methods of treatment were devised which is considered as short- term therapy. These methods focused on present experiences, while the therapist's involvement is very active and it is referred to as "Here and Now Technique." After completing my course of studies at the university, some of my classmates continued with the psychoanalytic technique and some turned to the new ones. I hesitated which of them I wanted to practice, but I was curios to expose myself to the new ones.

    When working as a new psychologist, in New York Family Court Clinic, one day I noticed on our board an invitation to participate in a workshop based on the Gestalt theory and guided imagery. I decided to register without any preconceived notions about the techniques.

    The group consisted of ten psychologists and one moderator. We sat in a circle with two empty seats next to the moderator. He explained to us that each of us, in turn, would sit next to him in order to discuss a specific issue. The first volunteer began to speak about his mother, whom he felt was very controlling. The moderator stopped him as he started to speak and asked him to look at the empty seat and imagine that his mother is sitting there. He then asked him to tell her how he feels about her, as straightforward and honestly as he can, and reveal to her the deepest and most painful childhood memories he can recall. The volunteer gradually began crying softly, then began shouting and lastly began using expletives. At a certain stage, the volunteer was asked to sit on his mother's chair and speak to himself from the point of view of his mother. He needed to assume the reaction his mother may have had to his diatribe. The imaginary mother yelled and placed a great deal of blame on him. During this exercise, the person changed rolls a few times. At a certain stage, the moderator requested that he and his mother, while continuing their mutual discussions, also try to come to mutual understanding of each other. In this way, their relationship could improve. The volunteer followed directions very well. At the end, there was a group discussion. The volunteer said that this was an extraordinary exercise for him even though initially he was frightened by the strong feelings that came out of it. This was a totally different from psychoanalytical method than any I have ever studied.

    During the above exercise, one of the participants, sitting next to me, sneezed and coughed continually. I thought "Too bad I am sitting next to him; no doubt I will catch his cold and be sick now for at least a week."

    No doubt the saying a "self fulfilling prophesy" worked on me. The following day I arrived at the workshop with a stuffy nose, sneezing and coughing. When it was my turn to sit in the empty chair, I wondered whom I am going to confront by putting him or her on the empty chair in front of me: My mother? My father? Perhaps my elder brother? It was hard to decide.

    The moderator turned to me and asked me to raise a topic. I told him weakly with a hoarse voice, "It is hard for me to speak, I have a stuffy nose."

    "Perhaps you should put your nose on the chair and talk to it? Tell it how you feel about it" he suggested. I was stunned. I had never spoken to my nose. What shall I tell it, that I am fed up with it? That it causes me to have a cold a few times a year and makes life so miserable for me?

    "I am fed up with you! You are making my life miserable," I said in a weak and unsteady voice to the empty chair.

    "Your delivery is angry but the tone is quite soft," said the moderator. "Can you adjust your tone to the content?"

    I raised my voice and repeated the sentences. The moderator asked me to switch seats with the nose and have it communicate with me, Baruch, by my name.

    "Baruch, you only invited me last night," my nose said. "You expected to catch the cold from the sick person who set near you. That was a very overt invitation. To tell you the truth, I think you were scared of sitting on the empty chair and raising your voice against your father and mother, and your eldest brother. You preferred to hide your feelings with my help."

    I changed seats and spoke very sternly to my nose "I order you to stop ruling over me. If you think, I invited you it wasn't done by my mature self, but by the little child within me."

    The moderator then suggested that I seat the virus itself on the empty chair and speak to it.

    This time I screamed, "If you don't get out of my nose instantly, I will destroy you! I will burn you and all your disgusting friends" I am old enough to cope with various feelings "you invaded my body, I will throw you out of it." The dialogue between my nose, my virus and me lasted about half an hour. When it was over, I felt healthy and my nose was completely clear. When the workshop continued I was invited to sit in the empty chair several times, and I coped with various people in my life this way.

    On my way home, I was convinced that my psychotherapeutic guideline should be based on combining the two approaches: the psychoanalysis one and the modern ones. During the following years, I participated in many workshops and I was exposed to various additional modern methods, some of which are demonstrated, in case studies, in this website.

    Since the above experience, I hardly ever suffered from upper respiratory infection. Whenever I felt a cold coming on, I dealt with it directly. In the first stage, I investigated the possibility that emotional issues reduced my immune system and gave way to the viruses surrounding me to enter my body. In the second stage, I closed my eyes and visualized destroying the virus, each time in the way that I deemed most appropriate. In all of the instances, the cold left me after a day or two and never turned to a severe upper respiratory infection.

    Since that workshop, I have met many patients who came to my office with upper respiratory infections. On the date of the set appointment, many tried to cancel, claiming they have a cold. I insisted that they come in anyway and that we will deal with it during the course of our sessions. It was interesting to note, that each patient had an entirely different way of dealing with the virus, each according to his personality. All of them returned for the next session fully recovered.

    The theoretical explanation to that method is that at the time we feel stressed or anxious our bodies mobilize the "fight or flight" response. Part of this energy comes from the slowing down of the immune system. When one understands his conflict and copes with it to his satisfaction, he can visualize his body repairing itself, in the form of a science fiction movie. The brain translates the message of the pictures to the appropriate nervous system, and as a result, the immune system accelerates and overcomes the viruses.

    When my children were young, I used to share with them some of my experiences with my patients. Once I told my children how I helped a child to heal a viral wart on his finger. Each time the dermatologist burned the wart it came back larger. The doctor, who was familiar with my work, referred the boy to me. It is well known that many children suffer from viral warts on their fingers. Most of them disappear in puberty. In some of the cases, I could identify stress in the child's life, which I assumed reduced their immune system's ability to heal. In many other cases, I could not identify any emotional trigger. In the case of the boy mentioned above, there appeared to be no stress. I therefore guided him, in our first meeting, to fight the viral wart. He consequently burned it in his imagination. After about three weeks, the wart disappeared, never to return. My son, who was about seven years old then, informed me that he too has a wart on his finger. He asked me to help him get rid of it. While driving or car, I asked him to close his eyes and burn the virus. About a month later, I remembered my son's wart and asked him whether it disappeared. He responded that he could not do what I suggested, since in his imagination, the viruses appeared very cute, like in cartoons, and he could not burn them. I asked him what he would like to do with them. He thought for a while and responded that he would like to send them to a secluded island where they can live in peace and hurt no one. I encouraged him to do so. After about a week, the wart disappeared.

    I recommend that each time you suffer from any illness involving a virus or bacteria; do implement the technique detailed above. When it works, please send me an e-mail and I will add it to the chapter "Testimonials from Readers."