Conscious Autosuggestion and the Disease Model of Medicine

It stands to reason that our attitude plays a crucial role in manifesting our goals because our thought patterns provide the foundation for how decisions are made. With any goal that we wish to accomplish, we face obstacles that must be overcome to reach the goal. Our thought patterns, whether generally positive or negative, influence how we perceive the obstacles and challenges that we face. If one is optimistic then an obstacle may be perceived as simply a step in the process of achieving the larger goal. One who thinks negatively may already feel as though the goal is unattainable and therefore perceive the obstacle as affirmation of the already held attitude. 

Michael Scheier and Charles Carver describe positive thinking as “holding positive expectancies for one’s future,” which they suggest has certain implications for behavior. When outcomes are perceived as attainable people will continue to pursue that outcome despite adversity, while if the outcome seems unattainable people generally give up when they face adversity. This leads to the question of whether the perception of goal-attainability is based on circumstance or whether it is a matter of the general thought patterns of an individual. Since our thought patterns reflect how we perceive the world, are our accomplishments a reflection of our attitudes? 

David Schweingruber of Iowa State University discusses the effects of a positive attitude by door-to-door salesmen and demonstrates the importance of keeping these thoughts present to be a successful salesman. This idea can be generalized by assuming that our thought patterns serve as a predictor to the results of any endeavor. If in fact, our thought patterns play such a crucial role in the manifestation of our reality, can thought patterns that do not serve us be altered to positive attitudes that affirm goal-accomplishment? According to Delroy Paulhus (1916), our psychological makeup can in fact be altered by “the force of frequent repetition.” The idea is that by affirming an attitude frequently over an extended period of time, the attitude replaces previous thought patterns and becomes a part of the cognitive psyche. This concept of mind programming was termed “conscious autosuggestion.”

The contemporary view of psychological disorders is largely based on biological factors, labeling psychological problems that we have in life as a disease and using psychotropic drugs to correct the chemical imbalance. There are several problems with the disease model of medicine. First, if our repeated thoughts influence our attitudes and our attitudes define how we perceive ourselves and the world around us, then it stands to reason that to accept a disease title would make a temporary psychological problem perpetuate itself based on the acceptance of having a disease and the symptoms that are expected to accompany it. It is understood that we all have a plethora of genes in which are not active at any given point and time, and there is some evidence to suggest that the genes that are active at any given point are influenced by the nurture factor of the nature versus nurture dilemma. That is to say that although we may carry a gene for a particular disorder, that gene could possibly remain dormant with the absence of environmental factors that trigger it. 

Other problems with the disease model of medicine are related to the use and abuse of psychotropic drugs. Many of the drugs on the market used to treat psychological disorders can help to manage symptoms for some time, often at the expense of dependency and side-effects that must be treated with other drugs. After long-term use, many find that they require the drugs to just avoid withdrawals and feel trapped in a worse situation than they were before being prescribed the medication. This becomes an even bigger problem for those that become dependent on such drugs and later lose their health insurance or financial ability to acquire their prescriptions. There are many in these circumstances that turn to the black market to get their drugs and later find themselves in court for possession of drugs without a prescription. This is just to touch on the problems of psychotropic drugs to point out the need for alternative therapy, but I digress on this topic. 

I believe that further study of the role that our thought patterns play on how we feel and act could transform psychological treatment from the contemporary symptom management approach to one that addresses underlying causes, which could result in cures rather than symptomatic relief. This paradigm shift could be generalized to other fields of medicine as well; however, economic factors strongly influence the perpetuation of the current model because it is more profitable to treat a disease than to cure one. This is an issue of social incentives that must eventually be addressed; however, I digress to avoid escaping the topic. It is fair to say that the human psyche is extremely complex and that there is no one form of cognitive behavioral therapy to address all psychological problems, but the point is that our research should be aimed towards discovering causes and cures rather than symptom management. Since our thoughts are the most intimate present reflection of the psyche, I think that it serves as an appropriate starting point. 

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Listen to David McGraw's 101 positive affirmations below! Remember, this works best with frequent repetition. It is also helpful to write down your goals, values, and desired attitudes to read over often. Comment below with your experience!    

References:

Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1993). On the power of positive thinking: the benefits of being optimistic. Psychological Science: A Journal of the American Psychological Society.

Paulhus, D. L. (1916). Bypassing the will: The automatization of affirmations. In Retrieved from http://neuron4.psych.ubc.ca/~dpaulhus/research/SDR/downloads/CHAPTERS/HMCposaffirmationschap.pdf

Schweingruber, D. (1960). Success through a positive mental attitude?: The role of positive thinking in door-to-door sales. The Sociological Quarterly.