When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress, Gabor Maté

(May 1) Bittersweet: “sweet” because it confirms my own amateur observations; “bitter” because I feel like a ticking time bomb now, lol (the word I really need instead of “bittersweet” is “vindicating-scary”). Maté is completely convincing with his thesis that autoimmune diseases are caused by inappropriate responses to stress (repression, resentment, overcompensation, etc.). I am so convinced and have internalized the theory so thoroughly that my own reaction to a news story I heard the other day surprised me. The story reported how raloxifene is showing better results than tamoxifen in treating breast cancer, and my reflex reaction was, “Why are researchers wasting our time with these finger-in-the-dike drugs?” It was, to me, so clearly a big waste of time and money to do this kind of research -- yet I realize this is an impious reaction to “good news.” But I also know that the relationship between emotions and cancer will never galvanize people, neither researchers nor victims -- it’s too “unscientific,” no matter how many studies prove it.

-- Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa