{"id":3572,"date":"2011-11-22T06:31:27","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T11:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=3572"},"modified":"2011-11-22T07:36:06","modified_gmt":"2011-11-22T12:36:06","slug":"use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html","title":{"rendered":"Use the diagnostic power of dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The New York Times<\/em> <\/a>reports today that there is a rising body of opinion that the term “cancer” is out of date and is being misapplied in ways that can even help to kill patients. The concept of cancer as a progressive disease that will kill if the cells are not destroyed stems from the work of a 19th century German pathologist who studied cancer cells only in dead patients. The future of “cancer” cells in living patients can follow many alternate paths. What is now being diagnosed as “stage 0 breast cancer”, for example, may prove to be non-invasive and self-contained, not remotely life-threatening.<\/p>\n

In a recent book, Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health<\/em>, Dartmouth physicians and researchers H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwarts and Steven Woloshin argue that the medical establishment’s view that early diagnosis and treatment is what keeps people well is actually undermining the health of many. In Welch’s opinion, “overdiagnosis” \u00a0leads to unnecessary surgery and invasive procedures and can cause stress and depression that wrecks the patients’ immune systems and paralyzes their ability to contribute to their own healing. A certain type of diagnosis and prognosis (even when not a mis-diagnosis) can bind the patient’s imagination to a negative pattern of expectation that leads the body to conform to what the physician says it will do.<\/p>\n

There is so much power to heal or harm in the way we name things. Yet nosology, \u00a0the science of giving diagnostic names to symptoms, is one of the most imperfect of all medical sciences. Think of what the crew of “House” go through in the TV series before they determine an accurate diagnosis, usually after coming close to killing the patient.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Active dreamers can help greatly in this area by encouraging patients – and physicians, when they are ready to hear – to visualize and name conditions in ways that support containment and healing.<\/p>\n

Dreams show us our conditions in a different language from the medical profession (though they may also incorporate medical language and medical procedures). The language of dreams offers us the power of visioning and naming <\/em>our symptoms in ways that help us to become well.<\/p>\n

In The Three “Only” Things<\/em> I discuss the case of a woman patient whose physicians could not agree on a diagnosis for her collection of symptoms until a wolf entered her dreams and told her, “My name is Lupus Wolf. Tell the doctors.” When she did this, her physicians agreed that lupus might be an accurate diagnosis for her condition, and embarked on a treatment plan accordingly. Lupus Wolf reappeared in the woman’s dreams, now as an ally in healing.<\/p>\n

Dreams give us a rich and interactive personal vocabulary for our conditions. For example:<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cleaning Up the Henhouse<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>A woman challenged by ovarian cancer dreamed, over many months, of problems involving a henhouse that needed to be cleaned out, where a dwindling population of healthy chicks was eventually revived. Through her struggles, she was amused and enlivened by the dream analogies between her reproductive system and the henhouse, and worked closely with these dreams, sharing some that provided specific guidance on treatment with her physicians.<\/p>\n

Fifties Roadster<\/em><\/p>\n

Another dreamer asked for guidance whether she should have surgery for a herniated disk. In her dream, she saw a zippy Fifties roadster, painted red and white, with a huge ultra-modern sound system in the back. She was told in the dream that mechanical repairs were not necessary and would be excessively costly. Waking, she recognized that her body was the Fifties roadster, and that a sound system is also a disk player. She proceeded to experiment \u2013 with very healing results \u2013 with the power of toning and vibration to help with her back problem.<\/p>\n

Next: Dreams Give Us the Power of Naming<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times reports today that there is a rising body of opinion that the term “cancer” is out of date and is being misapplied in ways that can even help to kill patients. The concept of cancer as a progressive disease that will kill if the cells are not destroyed stems from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,18,46,19,27],"tags":[765,761,767,354,762,763,760,766],"class_list":["post-3572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-active-dreaming","category-dream-diagnosis","category-healing","category-healing-dreams","category-self-help","tag-cancer-diagnosis","tag-diagnosis","tag-h-gilbert-welch","tag-healing-imagery","tag-house-md","tag-naming","tag-nosology","tag-overdiagnosed"],"yoast_head":"\nUse the diagnostic power of dreams - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Use the diagnostic power of dreams - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The New York Times reports today that there is a rising body of opinion that the term “cancer” is out of date and is being misapplied in ways that can even help to kill patients. The concept of cancer as a progressive disease that will kill if the cells are not destroyed stems from the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-22T11:31:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-22T12:36:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/11\/House-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Use the diagnostic power of dreams - Dream Gates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Use the diagnostic power of dreams - Dream Gates","og_description":"The New York Times reports today that there is a rising body of opinion that the term “cancer” is out of date and is being misapplied in ways that can even help to kill patients. The concept of cancer as a progressive disease that will kill if the cells are not destroyed stems from the…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html","og_site_name":"Dream Gates","article_published_time":"2011-11-22T11:31:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-11-22T12:36:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/11\/House-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"Robert Moss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html","name":"Use the diagnostic power of dreams - Dream Gates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/11\/House-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-22T11:31:27+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-22T12:36:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/11\/House-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/11\/House-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/use-the-diagnostic-power-of-dreams.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Use the diagnostic power of dreams"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/","name":"Dream Gates","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Robert Moss","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b","name":"Robert Moss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","caption":"Robert Moss"},"description":"Robert Moss describes himself as a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture. He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3572"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3575,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572\/revisions\/3575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}