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HEART AND MIND: MEDICATION
A vital aspect of cardiac disease is the curious desire of civilized humans for drugs, injections and operations. This appears to be a psychological twist, and certainly there is a totally irrational compulsion to submit to these patently damaging and destructive treatments. There have been many theories about this attitude: it probably stems mainly from experiences in infancy and childhood, in which misunderstanding about cause and effect can so easily occur, and when impressions can be so deep and lasting. One such case was reported by Prof. H.W. Frink: a young woman had an uncontrollable desire for medicine— the kind did not matter, but medicine she must have. Frink's explanation was that, as a child, she had witnessed her mother being given medicine by a doctor, and shortly thereafter her mother produced a baby. On reaching womanhood herself, the solution to her frustrated biological instincts seemed obvious—medicine, like mother had.
The compulsions of doctors and surgeons to administer their prescriptions and services may be equally capable of analysis in terms of infantile experience. There must be some reason why intelligent and otherwise responsible men continue to give drugs which they know must cause permanent damage and to carry out operations which they know may be ineffective and mutilating. Perhaps it is but another aspect of the mass mind, or 'mob psychology'. Persona responsibility and group activities are kept separate mental compartments, and the two are have totally different levels of morality. When acting with others, men can cheerfully commit acts which as individuals they would utterly condemn — as anyone who has lived through and observed any major military operation c sadly confirm. There is a great desire to retain self-respect, yet to evade personal responsibility and the magic word is 'duty'. This implies sharing of responsibility and a freedom fro individual scruples.
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Cardio & Blood |
