It’s almost here! The official release of my new relationship guide, Divorce Proof Your Relationship Before You Say “I Do” – Seven Essential Conversations, is right around the corner and so far it has been received very well by colleagues, clients and others! I’m excited because the guide will be able to help not only couples looking to get married, but those that are already married as well.

Understanding the reasons behind the tendency that many couples have to stray apart and lose touch is pivotal in rescuing any relationship from ruins. It seems that the subjects raised in “Essential Questions” are often behind the problems.

Throughout my career, I’ve found it doesn’t matter if a couple has been together for two weeks, two years or 20; there are always differences and baggage that gets swept under the rug of life; but never really goes away. The better equipped we are to know what the important questions are in life and how to go about finding the answers and solutions, the longer and stronger our relationships will be. After all, isn’t that the point of a committed partnership?

One couple I worked with recently had been married 23 years and was in the process of rediscovering each other. The wife said to me one day that it seemed to her she was learning new things about her husband every day. She couldn’t understand how she could have shared a life, a home and a family with a man for so long and yet not be aware of many of the things in his life that were important to him. She worried that she was a failure at being a good wife. I told her, “If you don’t know what or how to ask, there is no way to truly know everything about anyone; especially your spouse!

I hope Divorce Proof Your Marriage Before you Say ” I Do” will help couples learn the answers to the things they really need to know about each other.

A colleague of mine asked me the other day about my new guide, Divorce Proof Your Marriage Before you Say I Do; Seven Essential Conversations.” She wanted to how it would be useful to couples considering marriage? As a divorce attorney, she had seen, heard and pretty much dealt with it all, when it came to the reasons why marriages didn’t work! She could usually tell which of the people sitting in her office dividing assets in anger and disappointment, were doomed from the beginning and which could have had a fighting chance with the right intervention. I sent her a copy of the manuscript. A few days later, she had one word to describe the it …awesome! Coming from a seasoned divorce attorney; this was just the word I wanted to hear!

Divorce is not something that happens over night. In fact, many divorces start before vows are even taken. The seeds of divorce are planted any time we think we will change our partner, any time we push away those nagging thoughts of irritation about something our partner thinks or does, and become rooted quickly when we believe that marriage will solve all the problems. None of those idiosyncrasies, personality traits, beliefs, and habits are likely to improve after marriage. On the contrary, they usually become more pronounced.

Unfortunately, while we are in dating mode, we rarely see the sorts of issues that married life will bring our way; so learning essential knowledge can be difficult. But during the courtship is when you need to learn more than just the obvious about your intended. That is what this guide will help you do – and in the process, you’ll learn a lot about yourself!

From who should change the diapers, how many kids a couple wants to have or where they will spend the holidays; to whose job it is to mow the grass and often they will attend church – new couples have mountains of real life issues that will cause disagreement. Divorce Proof Your Marriage Before you Say I Do is designed so you don’t have to play the wait and see game! You are given real life marital situations and a set of questions to ask not only of your spouse but of yourself! The answers aren’t meant to change whether or not you get married, but to provide you with a tool that details where your groundwork together needs to start.

Check out NICABM’s new blog and video on the neuroscience of human relationships http://tinyurl.com/mg59yw

Join Dr. Sally Witt and Dr. Lee Bowers on the Dr. Sally Show, this evening at 7:30pm Eastern on Blog Talk Radio as they discuss this wonderful new guide. Listen live or download and listen later -
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drsallywitt/2009/07/27/Dr-Lee-Bowers-and-her-wonderful-Guide-Divorce-Proof-Your-Relationship-Before-You-Say-I-Do

Dr. Lee Bowers has decided to offer you a $5 discount on her new guide – “Divorce Proof Your Relationship Before you Say ‘I Do’” – 7 Essential Conversations.

This guide comes out of over 25 years of experience as a psychologist in private practice. Over those years, I have seen many people struggle in their marriages – often as soon as the first year or two into them. Inevitably, I found the root of the problems came from not discussing essential relationship considerations prior to getting married.

Often, couples will discuss generalities about money, chores, kids, religion, extended family, etc., but neglect to look deeper into potential problems. For example, what if you and your kids are nicely settled into a neighborhood, school, etc., and a fabulous job offer comes to move across country? How would you deal with that? What if one person’s parents are very involved (or over-involved) in your family relationship, and the other’s parents are not? If this becomes a problem, how would you handle it?

This guide helps you peer into the future to situations that might arise in your life together. It creates a framework for discussion that helps couples gain confidence in their abilities to work through difficult issues, before they even arise.

Use this paypal link and Dr. Bowers will email you the PDF file of the guide.

After the launch date, the guide will be available on Clickbank.com for $19.95.

2 part video interviews where Dr. Lee Bowers highlights some of her work with clients using Psycholgy and Energy Psychology techniques.

How to Survive Anxiety Over Today’s Economy

By Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

In my roughly 25 years of private psychotherapy practice, I’ve never seen people as anxious and worried about finances as they are today. Certainly it is not without reason. Most people have seen their retirement savings dwindle. Unemployment is at a several – decade high, and of course the media drives home reminders of possible economic calamity every day. How are YOU coping?

Some people cope by burying their heads in the sand. But inevitably, this denial has unpleasant consequences. The troubles in our economy are real. Even if you’re confident your job or income is secure, the effect of the overall economic downturn will sooner or later impact us all. But panic is also counter- productive. It accomplishes nothing except to fuel the flame. As in most areas of life, balance is usually the best approach. Here are some ideas to help you maintain yours:

1. Exercise. Exercise is one of our best stress relievers. Moving our bodies, getting our heart rates up, stretching our limbs actually have a very positive effect on brain chemistry and give us a feeling of well-being. Not only that – it’s free – or very inexpensive. Walking or running requires only a good pair of shoes. Stretching takes not even that! Get away from the house, office, or television, and take a yoga, Pilates, or aerobics class. Join a hiking club. You’ll feel better – and much more relaxed.

2. Meditate. Whether you listen to guided imagery audios, or do something as simple as sitting and following your breath, meditation calms us. Studies show that when meditation becomes a regular daily practice, as opposed to just an occasional event, the mental and physical benefits are huge and lasting. Not only do we worry less, but creativity seems to improve – leading to recognizing options for helping ourselves through difficult times.

3. Perspective. Considering a longer term point of view can be very helpful. Look at economic cycles over a hundred year time frame. There have always been ebbs and flows. Some are a little more pronounced than others, but the pendulum is always swinging. And remember, when the pendulum is out at its farthest point, it is poised to reverse course. Always has, always will. Everything in life is temporary, including whatever situation you find yourself in at the moment.

4. Friends and Family. A joy shared is doubled, a problem shared is halved. I’m not encouraging you to spend a lot of energy ruminating with others about your situation, but it’s helpful to talk with those close to you about your concerns, brainstorm ideas, and give and get emotional support. Instead of going out to dinner, have a potluck evening with friends, and play some board games or watch a movie. Rediscover the joys, and savings, of quiet evenings at home with family. Help friends out and save money at the same time. Instead of hiring a babysitter, take turns taking care of a friend’s children, giving you each a day or evening of free sitting!

5. Be Proactive. We have become a society of spenders. It is as much a habit as was saving for those who grew up during the depression. But habits can be changed. Make a game out of saving money. How much can you save each week if you just ask yourself the questions, “Do I really need this right now?” or, “If I don’t have this, will it really affect my life?” or “Can I accomplish the same thing for less?” For example, books are my addiction. I’m always buying books. But most of them I only read once, and I could easily get them for free from the library. Do you need all those premium cable channels, or would it be cheaper to just rent the DVD’s (or get for free from the library)? Have a family contest to see who saves the most each week.

6. Avoid “Hard” News. Years ago, holistic physician, Andrew Weill started telling people to avoid TV news programs and now there are studies that actually show that people’s stress levels decline when they stop reading the paper and watching the news. You can replace news with watching or reading humorous stories to raise endorphin levels.

7. Practice Gratitude. For all the struggles we have, we are truly fortunate. My mother grew up during the depression, one of twelve children, in a three bedroom house without indoor plumbing or electricity, and with winters that regularly saw temperatures below freezing and snow measured by the foot rather than the inch. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen a lot of the world, including some third world countries, where even today, people live in hovels. I am truly grateful to be living here, and at this time. I’m grateful for friends and clients and good health and music and books and my critters and so many wonderful things in life. I’ll bet you have quite a list too – review it regularly!

Dr. Lee Bowers is a Psychologist in Villanova. She can be reached at 610-520-0433, leebowers@comcast.net, or www.drleebowers.com.

Allergies, Stress, and Breathing Easy …

Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

Approximately half of all Americans are bothered by at least occasional allergies. Some suffer so much that allergies seem to control their lives. Most people believe that the only action to take with allergies is reaction – i.e. to treat the symptoms – either with over the counter or prescription medications. Unfortunately, neither alternative eliminates the allergy, but rather, just temporarily reduces the symptoms. Often, there are undesirable side effects to the medication.

Just imagine how life would be without allergies. It is often possible to eliminate allergies through various holistic, drug free, non-medical processes based on the energy balancing principles of ancient Chinese Medicine. For over 5000 years, the Chinese have believed that the cause of all chronic ailments can be traced to a disruption in the body’s energy system. Just as the proper flow of blood throughout the body is essential to our health, so is the proper flow of energy, or “Chi.”

Immunologist, Judith Swack, Ph.D. explains that the function of the immune system is to fight pathogens, or disease-causing organisms. An allergic reaction is like a phobic response of the immune system because it mistakenly overreacts to something that is not a pathogen.i

This type of response is most likely to occur when the immune system is compromised. Any kind of physical or emotional trauma can create this compromise and disrupt the flow of Chi. Swack explains that when someone undergoes a trauma, or is in a period of significant life stress, there is a significant drop in their immune capacity, rendering the person susceptible to a multitude of diseases. If this trauma is accompanied by a heavy exposure to something different in the environment (the blossoming of ragweed, for instance), the immune system can easily overreact.

It seems that the systemic shock that a trauma creates directly triggers, or turns on, mast cells, causing them to degranulate, producing allergic symptoms. Thereafter, the substance (e.g. ragweed) acts as a shock trigger and causes allergic symptoms without the original trauma, via conditioned response. In other words, the immune system, in sensing ragweed in the environment, thinks it is being attacked and goes into a histamine response to try to ward off the perceived attacker. Of course, ragweed is not really a pathogen, and the “attack” is only perceived, not real – a misunderstanding of the immune system.

A client recently came to my office for treatment of a cat allergy. Her experience was a perfect illustration of Swack’s theory. “Cindy” stated that she had always had cats growing up, and loved them dearly. Then, all of a sudden, while in high school, she became allergic to cats. Through the use of applied kinesiology, we muscle tested to learn the details of the story that her body had to tell about this allergy:

At age 16, Cindy’s first boyfriend broke up with her and she was distraught. This was the trauma that depleted her immune function. She retreated to her bedroom and cuddled with her cat for comfort, rarely going out of the room for several days, crying, and burying her head in the cat’s fur. This heavier than usual exposure to cat hair and dander, coupled with her depleted immune system, caused the mistaken reaction we call an allergy. From that point forward, she was allergic to cats. Often the source is not so obvious as in this example, and identifying a precipitating even is not necessary for successful treatment.

This allergic reaction was quickly eliminated by use of a combination of techniques including Accupressure and Neuro-Linguistic Programming/Time Line Therapy.? The allergy that had plagued her for years was eliminated in less than thirty minutes. Various energy modalities can also be used. I usually test the person using applied kinesiology (muscle testing) to determine the best intervention for them. I am seeing this kind of successful result with almost everyone I treat. The results are usually permanent, (unless the person is retraumatized), and very exciting.

I have also been using these methods with people who have multiple chemical sensitivities or environmental illness, food allergies, and other immune compromised situations. These can be much more complex problems, but the basic principles still apply. Through a holistic approach to mind/body integration and stress reduction, we can assist our bodies in the healing process.

Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D. is a Licensed Psychologist and board-certified in Medical Psychology. She is listed in the 2nd Edition of Who’s Who in Healthcare. For more information regarding her work with allergies, autoimmune disorders, or other physical and emotional health care concerns, feel free to call or visit her website:

Suburban Psychological Services

Integrated Mind/Body Healing

210 Tower Road

Villanova, PA 19085

Phone: (610) 520-0443/e-mail: leebowers@comcast.net

Visit our Website at: http://www.drleebowers.com

i Swack, Judith. A Study of Initial Response and Reversion Rates of Subjects Treated With the Allergy Technique. Anchor Point : 3: 1992. Reprint.

Are You a Slave to the Seasons (or other allergens)?

By Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from all types of allergies. This includes indoor/outdoor, food & drug, latex, skin and eye allergies. Allergy is the 5th leading chronic disease in the United States among all ages, and the 3rd common chronic disease among children under 18 years old.

People with allergies usually have more than one type. Approximately 75% of all sufferers have an indoor/outdoor inhalant substance as their primary allergy. About 10 million people are allergic to cat dander, the most common pet allergy. The most common indoor/outdoor triggers are pollen, dust and mold, and pet dander.

Approximately 7% of allergy sufferers have skin or contact allergies as their primary allergy. This includes eczema, hives, and dermatitis. Approximately 6% of sufferers have food and drug allergies. Food allergies are more common among children than adults, and 90% of all food allergies are caused by 8 foods: milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. Penicillin is the most common drug allergy. If you are allergic to Penicillin, you must always be alert to the possibility that you might be allergic or other drug families also.

Nearly 400 Americans die each year as a result of an allergic reaction to either prescription or OTC medications. More than 200 deaths occur each year because of food allergies. Nearly 100 Americans die each year from insect allergies, and 10 deaths occur annually as a result of severe reactions to latex allergies. These statistics do not include costs related to chronic asthma, which affects around 20 million Americans.

Another distressing symptom many people have, who might not have even considered allergies, is chronic fatigue, and insomnia. Studies also show that reading, writing, and allergies do not mix well. On any given school day, over 10,000 children might be absent because of allergic complications. Even children who do attend school despite the itchy eyes, rhinitis, itchy palate, have a difficult concentrating and do not perform well in school. These children are often inappropriately labeled as hyperactive, or psychologically troubled.

Allergies are basically an overreaction to a trigger in the environment that one’s immune system inaccurately perceives as an “enemy,” which needs to be attacked and destroyed. A variety of factors can lead to this kind of misperception, but most often stress or some kind of trauma leads to a weakening or depletion of the immune system in the body.

There are almost as many opinions about the treatment of allergies, as there are allergies. Traditional treatments often include medication, which has side effects, and a desensitizing of the immune system by allowing the body to be exposed to the offending agent in small amounts, usually through multiple needle experiences over a period of time. This has to be done for each individual trigger or class of triggers, and often by the time treatment is complete, the body has learned to use its attack response with new triggers.

There are also various holistic, drug-free non-medical processes available to treat allergies. For over 5,000 years, the Chinese believed the cause of all chronic ailments can be traced to a disruption in the body’s energy system. Just as proper blood circulation is essential to our health, so is the proper flow of energy, or “Chi.”

A few years ago, I observed at a workshop the allergy treatment of a 48 year old registered nurse, who had suffered from asthma, seasonal and food allergies, (in particular, shellfish) most of her life. She had experienced several years of desensitizing allergy injections which she gave herself three times a week for two years, had been hospitalized as a child numerous times related to exacerbated episodes of asthma, and was currently using nebulizer treatments and prescribed pills and inhalers. She was unable to walk into a room or house where shellfish was being cooked, without have a severe asthmatic episode, which on two occasions sent her to the emergency room.

The intervention she received was the Neuromodulation Technique (NMT). After working in and experiencing a lifetime of traditional Western medicine, this method satisfied her need to work with something that was based on scientific and physiologic principles. As a back up “plan B,” there was a physician present in the room, along with an “epi-pen” in the event conventional medical intervention was necessary. The practitioner was Dr. Leslie Feinberg, the developer of NMT. Feinberg says the brain works much like a computer and misperceptions by the autonomic nervous system and the immune system (which is what an allergy essentially is) are like “bugs” in a program, so like a computer, the body can be debugged and reprogrammed.

This “reprogramming” session took about twenty minutes. There was no discomfort involved (other than being in front of a roomful of practitioners!). Afterwards, she was presented with a platter of shrimp, and for the first time in her life, tasted shrimp. Nothing happened! The next day, with Dr. Feinberg and me, she ate shrimp again. Nothing happened, except that she was surprised it wasn’t more tasty! To date, she has eaten shellfish a total of seven times, without symptoms.

Since then, I have had similar experiences with NMT in my own practice – with common seasonal allergies, horrible food allergies (yes, even peanuts), and all kinds of other ailments. It is especially heartwarming for me, an animal lover, to help children eliminate allergies to dogs or cats so they can have a pet.

I continue to marvel at how the body, with just a little help and direction, is really capable of healing itself.

Dr. Bowers is a medical psychologist in Villanova and semi-regular contributor to Yoga Living. You can contact her at: 610-520-0443, leebowers@comcast.net, or www.drleebowers.com.

What You Don’t Know Can, In Fact, Hurt You

By Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

German physiologist Manfred Zimmerman, of the Neuroscience and Pain Research Institute, estimates that every waking second, our eyes process ten million bits of information, our skin one million bits, our ears and nose one hundred thousand bits each, and our tastes buds, one thousand bits. That’s a totally sensory input of 11,201,000 pieces of information per second! But only about 77 bits per second are actually processed on a conscious level. That means every second we’re taking in over 11.2 million pieces of information we know nothing about, consciously! Wow!

Just living our day to day lives in the 21st Century means constant sensory bombardment. What if some of that information we’re taking in is inaccurate, incomplete, overly specific or generalized, or in some other way contaminated? If our conscious mind is not aware of these 11.2 million pieces of information per second, how do they get assessed as to their value or accuracy? Guess what – they don’t! And therefore, every one of us is running around with literally trillions of bits of bad data.

Leslie Feinberg, D.C., developer of the Neuromodulation Technique, says these pieces of data become “pernicious synaptic patterns” or “PSP’s” for short. Feinberg explains that PSP’s are “unintended and inappropriate clusters of data” that can behave as instructional scripts to the autonomic nervous system, thereby creating or exacerbating all sorts of physical and/or emotional problems.

For example, someone treats you rudely and one of the PSP’s that comes from that experience is “I deserve bad treatment.” As that totally unconscious thought travels through the synapses, it creates a sort of track or groove. The next time something similar happens, it deepens the groove. Pretty soon, that pattern is cycling through your synapses and become part of your autonomic programming.

One of the most dramatic examples I’ve seen of the effects of treating and disorganizing PSP’s was when Dr. Feinberg was working with someone who was in chronic pain from an autoimmune disorder. He had successfully performed many interventions that had caused all other symptoms to resolve, but the pain remained. He started to delve, via muscle testing (or applied kinesiology) and found there were PSP’s around issues of feeling he deserved the pain because of an event years previously. This idea had become a part of his autonomic programming, even though he had no conscious awareness of it. After the PSP’s were disorganized, he was completely pain free.

Whether you suffer from allergies, arthritis or other autoimmune disorders, an injury that won’t heal, or even something as common as frequent sinus infections – or if you’re depressed or anxious for no apparent reason – you can bet there are pernicious synaptic patterns at work. Dr. Feinberg’s Neuromodulation Technique is a wonderful addition to mind/body medicine in this regard. Remember, just because you don’t know the content of those 11.2 million pieces of information you take in every second, it doesn’t mean they can’t harm you!

Dr. Bowers is a medical psychologist in Villanova. She has studied NMT with doctor Feinberg. You can contact her at: 610-520-0443, leebowers@comcast.net, or www.drleebowers.com.

What Is This Thing Called “Muscle Testing?”

Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

If you’ve been to holistic practitioners, you’ve probably experienced it. It’s also know as “muscle response testing” (MRT) or “applied kinesiology” and many chiropractors, naturopaths, energy workers and others use some form of it. But what are they really doing? To many, it appears to be a lot of hocus pocus. Actually, “kinesiology” is the science of movement, and muscle testing is a tool that uses the neuromuscular system to aid in evaluating what is wrong and what to do for a patient.

“Applied Kinesiology” is the name that was given to these techniques in the early 1960’s by chiropractor George Goodhart, generally recognized as the father of muscle testing. The general assumption behind MRT is that the central nervous system sends out signals to every cell in the body, and every cell is connected to the brain through a complex network. Messages get sent back and forth through nerve cells. Muscle test is a way of accessing the information of these cells. Our muscles are electrically connected to the brain via the spinal chord, so technically, we’re really testing brain response, not muscle response. If the autonomic nervous system (ANS) could speak, muscle testing would not be necessary.

It is a binary system. If a muscle is stressed and stays strong, that means the opposite of its being stressed and going weak. Different practitioners interpret strong and weak differently. When I muscle test, it is with the intention that what enhances the body keeps us strong and what upsets it makes us weak. Most chiropractors and some other natural health practitioners use the opposite approach – where there’s a weak test, it’s viewed as being no resistance, or no problem, whereas a strong test in indication of a problem. The systems work equally well – it simply depends on the intention of the tester. You see, it is really the ANS of the tester communicating with the ANS of the patient, so the tester can set parameters either way.

How Is Muscle Testing Performed?

There are many different styles of MRT. Probably the most common is for the patient to put his/her arm out to the side, parallel to the ground. While the patient gives slight resistance, the practitioner presses down on the wrist, while either verbally or silently asking a question. The arm will either stay in place (a “strong” response), or go down (a “weak” response). However, other muscles can be used. A person can sit on the side of an exam table with their lower leg extended and the tester pushes on the ankle, the patient can stick his/her elbow out and it can be pushed back, etc.

“What about someone who is very weak, or a small child?” you might ask. In these cases, a surrogate is often used. This person, who is able to offer the required resistance, usually touches the patient with one hand while the other arm is being tested. It is believed that this works because the surrogate is just a link in the energy chain between the patient and practitioner. This method is also often used for testing animals.

When a surrogate is not available, some practitioners use their own fingers as a form of surrogate muscle testing. This is also how people perform muscle tests on themselves.

You Mean I Can Muscle Test MYSELF?

Well, maybe. Theoretically, we should all be able to easily test ourselves because our autonomic nervous systems know everything there is to know about what’s going on in our bodies. We could all be excellent self testers if it weren’t for a couple little problems – we think too much, we want things to be the way we want them to be, and above all else, we want to be RIGHT! In other words, all too often, our heads get in the way!

Let me give you an example. I know a woman who had been trying very hard to get pregnant. She thought she was, so she muscle tested and got a “yes” response. She was thrilled. She also was NOT pregnant. How could that be? Certainly the ANS knows if one’s pregnant or not! Well, this is a case where her desire (i.e. conscious thought energy) overrode the ANS. It was as if her unconscious mind was saying, “I know you really want a ‘yes,’ and I want to make you happy so I’ll give you a ‘yes.’

So what good is it, anyway? Well, MRT can be VERY helpful if you want to know whether you’re getting enough Vitamin C, for example. You can just ask your body, via MRT, “Am I getting a sufficient amount of Vitamin C in my diet and supplement regimen? I have no doubt you’d get an accurate response. Why? Because you DON’T CARE what answer you get! If you need more Vitamin C, you want to know it, but if you don’t need any more, that’s okay too.

Incidentally, this rule applies to practitioners as well. I’m often asked, “Are some people better muscle testers than others?” My answer is an emphatic “Yes.” Beyond just technique and experience, I think the thing that makes someone an excellent muscle tester is the ability to GET THEIR HEAD OUT OF THE WAY! I’m always happy to get a muscle testing response that’s different from what I would have expected, because it’s confirmation to me that my expectations weren’t influencing the testing. Beware of anyone who has their own agenda about what’s right for you.

Now the above is just my opinion – but it’s based on a lot of observation. Someone who’s really studied this is Daniel A. Monti, M.D., an Associate Professor at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. The results of a study by Monti and his team of researchers was published in the highly regarded journal, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1999, 88, 1019-1028. A summary of the study is as follows:

This study investigated differences in values of manual muscle tests after exposure to congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli. Muscle testing with a computerized dynamometer was performed on the deltoid muscle group of 89 healthy college students after repetitions of congruent (true) and incongruent (false) self-referential statements. The order in which statements were repeated was controlled by a counterbalanced design. The combined data showed that approximately 17% more total force over a 59% longer period of time could be endured when subjects repeated semantically congruent statements (p<.001). Order effects were not significant. Overall, significant differences were found in muscle-test responses between congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli.

So in summary, muscle response testing is a useful and scientifically validated tool. It is not voodoo. It is also not infallible, because it depends on human factors. For many people, it is a very worthwhile member of their decision making repertoire.

Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D. is a Licensed Psychologist and board-certified in Medical Psychology. She can be reached at 610-520-0443 or www.drleebowers.com.

The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Coping With the Dreaded “C-word”

By Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

“It’s cancer,” the doctor said, looking at me solemnly and waiting to see my response. I remained composed. It wasn’t a total surprise – I knew there was a strong possibility. Still, that word, being attached to my name – it felt like a kick in the stomach. Here I was – the person who’d helped hundreds of others manage the crisis of a serious health problem, now facing one herself.

The thoughts and emotions came so fast and furiously, it was a whirlwind. It was a very aggressive form – I had to act quickly – no time to waste, or to do much research, for that matter. I felt pressured, and anyone who knows me knows I do not like to be pressured. I was fortunate. I’d worked with enough cancer patients in my practice as a medical psychologist to have learned a lot. I’d researched and studied alternative and complimentary methods. Maybe most importantly, I had friends and health care practitioners I could turn to for advice and support.

For me, I’m far enough on the other side of it now that I can look back on the experience and once again remember that traumas usually come with gifts attached – but it can certainly take a lot of time and perspective to recognize them! I was reminded of that twice this week, when clients I’d been working with on other things suddenly had to deal with huge life crises. For one, it was a recurrence of cancer thought destroyed 20 years ago. My gut clenched when I heard the news – for her, for me, and for everyone who has or will ever hear those words.

In a recent (11/07) issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, researchers showed that in cell cultures, the stress hormone norepinephrine appears to promote the biochemical signals that stimulate certain tumor cells to grow and spread. This finding may suggest a way of slowing the progression and spread of some cancers enough so that conventional and/or alternative treatments would have a better chance to work.

We hear all the time about the importance of reducing and managing stress in our lives, and most typically, we think of heart disease as the most common health risk of a high stress lifestyle. But actually, stress is very depleting to the immune system, and a compromised immune system is fertile ground for cancer, autoimmune disorders, and a host of maladies.

A study, released 10/31/07 by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund, shows food, nutrition and lack of exercise appear critical in causing many cases – perhaps up to one-third – of all cancers. That means controllable lifestyle factors associated with diet and weight have about the same impact on cancer rates as smoking.

An international team conducted an exhaustive, five-year review of more than 7,000 research papers that investigated whether food, nutrition or lack of physical exercise had an impact on cancer incidence and made 10 recommendations for prevention:

Ten recommendations
• Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight.
• Be physically active as part of everyday life.
• Limit consumption of energy-dense foods high in fat and sugar but low in fiber

• Eat mostly foods of plant origin.
• Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat.
• Limit alcoholic drinks.
• Limit consumption of salt.
• Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone.
• Mothers to breastfeed; children to be breastfed.
• Cancer survivors to follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.

It’s not surprising that the factors that contribute to cancer are similar to those for heart disease. The good news is that so many of these factors are controllable. Besides not stressing the body by smoking or poor eating habits, the effects of stress can be mediated by including exercise, meditation, and fun into your life. And as with most things, there’s no better time to start than the present!

Dr. Bowers is a medical psychologist in Villanova and semi-regular contributor to Yoga Living. You can contact her at: 610-520-0443, leebowers@comcast.net, or www.drleebowers.com.