Reference: Hubbard 1950: Dianetics TMSMH
These are some comments on Book Two, Chapter 5, “Psycho-somatic Illness” from DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH.
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Comments on
Psycho-somatic Illness
KEY WORDS: Psychosomatic illness, Sympathy engram
Psycho, of course, refers to mind and somatic refers to body; the term psycho-somatic means the mind making the body ill or illnesses which have been created physically within the body by derangement of the mind.
Psycho-somatic illness are generated by the body-mind system.
There are three stages of pathology: predisposition, by which is meant the factors which prepared the body for sickness, precipitation, by which is meant the factors which cause the sickness to manifest itself, and perpetuation, by which is meant the factors which cause the sickness to continue. A number of germ diseases are predisposed and perpetuated by engrams. Almost all accidents are to be traced to dramatization of engrams. Thousands and thousands of conditions result from engrams to disturb or derange the body.
Engrams predispose the body for illness, precipitate accidents, and perpetuate the sickness.
The senses can be tuned up or down by hypnotic suggestion. Here we have simply the spoken word going into the mind and causing physical function to change. The verbal suggestions through hypnosis can even interrupt the blood flow.
The body-mind system is very susceptible to the words in engrams.
Mental tone makes body tone go down. Body tone, then being down, makes mental tone go down. A dwindling spiral ensues until stopped. Many drugs and treatments simply move the individual from one chronic engram into another. They don’t rid the person of his engrams.
There is no known treatment to rid a person of his engrams.
Hubbard lists a whole lot of common ailments, such as, arthritis, blood pressure, bizarre pains, malformations, liver and kidney troubles, which, he claims, can be traced back to engrams. As the engram goes away, so goes the pain, so vanishes the arthritis. There is reason to believe that childhood illnesses are in themselves extremely mild and are complicated only by the restimulation of engrams. The germs may not be a serious problem in the absence of engrams.
Permanent solution lies in resolving the engram somehow.
Derangement falls sharply into two categories: mental (called aberration) and physical (called somatic). Both aberration and the somatic are present in every engram; but the engram can manifest itself chronically as either a somatic or as an aberration. When somatic is manifested, the person is in his own valence in the engram. When aberration is manifested, the person is in another valence.
Whether the derangement is mental (aberration) or physical (somatic) depends on how the engram is being dramatized.
Hubbard found that chronic psycho-somatic ills existed only when they had a sympathy engram behind them. A person is usually in his own valence when a sympathy engram is received. The psychosomatic illness is used to attract affinity (sympathy). Resistance to past therapies has resulted from these sympathy engrams.
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