Written by: Dr. Jason Bergerhouse
When I was seventeen, I hit a rock bottom point in my life where I desperately needed to change. As an addict I realized I needed to change my environment if I was ever going to overcome my addiction. My addiction wasn’t really alcohol or smoking weed; my addiction was seeking approval from others. Therefore, I engaged in unhealthy behaviors to “blend in” and gain approval from the people I was hanging out with. This was the initial motivator and pattern interrupt I needed to begin to shift my thoughts and perceptions about “my” reality.
I immediately stopped hanging out with these people because I realized they weren’t really my friends. The second thing I did was to shift my thinking from “man I’m a loser” to “man I’m going to change my life and become something!” Because of this shift in thinking I began to work out regularly. I ended up graduating high school on time and I started undergrad shortly thereafter. My new formed thoughts created so much excitement within me that I was creating a new cascade of hormones and chemicals that supported an abundant life. Eventually I was able to abolish those old limiting beliefs. Suffice it to say, if you want to change your life you must change your beliefs about your reality and about yourself; it’s a simple concept.
Think about the power of the nocebo effect in people’s lives. The belief in an ailment is reinforced and reconditioned by the environment and their thoughts (external and internal stimulus). Once diagnosed, the diagnosis is powerful because it gives them an identity. They begin to identify as their disease. This in turn creates a physiological response that supports and perpetuates the disease. Add in environmental factors that re-condition the negative thought patterns of “I am _______ (depressed, bi-polar, etc.)” or “I have _______ (cancer, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia)” and the body will more than likely not heal. Emotional support from friends and family can work against you in that it reconditions your thoughts instead of interrupting them.
However, through the power of the placebo effect a person radically shifts their thoughts and beliefs which changes their physiology from supporting disease and sickness to promoting health and healing. This is exactly what happened with my addiction. I healed myself with the power of my thoughts alone.
