At Positive Changes Hypnosis, we know how important words are. Using the right words to cause positive behavior change is the basis of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), the type of hypnosis we use. We stress the importance of words to our clients in two ways. First, we use practical discussion. Secondly, we use “impact words” with clients when they are in hypnosis.

This is why the recent Psychology Today article, “Can Words Cure Cancer,” caught my attention. Dr. Ellen Langer, a Harvard professor of psychology, wrote the article as she pondered her mother’s ‘exposure’ to cancer.

You will notice that I did not write of her mother’s “struggle” or “fight” or “suffering with” cancer. I used as neutral a word as I could find, so as not to allow cancer to sound like an imposing opponent. That is the gist of Dr. Langer’s article.

She reflects how the words “disease,” “cure” or “remission” can cause people to feel in control or not in control. For instance, the biopsy of a person who does not have cancer looks the same as a person who is “in remission,” but the words “in remission” can have a very different psychological effect from the words “cured” or “cancer-free.” 

Take a common cold -- something all of us have had at various times, Langer says. After our cold is gone, we don’t say, “My cold is in remission.” We say, “It’s gone” or “I beat it.” Also, our confidence rises once we’ve “beaten” a cold, so we know we can always “rid” ourselves of a cold. What has really happened is that our “mind-body relationship” (scientist call it our PNI, psycho-neuro immunological system) has mastered the art of “neutralizing” the cold virus. With respect to cancer though, “remission” implies we have not mastered the neutralization process; we are “waiting for cancer to return.” Also, helping underscore her point, Langer mentions how Alcoholics Anonymous refers to their members as “recovering,” which implies “never having quite resolved the problem,” whereas “recovered” suggests a confident “done-deal!”

Psychologically, this “remission” word can make us feel defeated, while the “beat” word (used with the cold) makes us feel confidently in charge. Why can’t we have that same attitude with cancer? “I will confidently beat it. I am stronger than it is.”

While we at Positive Changes always recommend the involvement of a physician regarding serious health matters, Langer states two reasons she might try to avoid physicians as much as possible. First, physicians underestimate the power of words to influence health. Second, physicians tend to be drug-oriented, which psychologically infers that we humans don’t have the inner resources (what I call the “pharmacist within”) to counter diseases. Langer does not like the implication of giving complete power to something outside oneself.

Dr. Langer’s observations and convictions support the assertions of NLP and what we do with it here at Positive Changes. We train minds to think in positive terms when we “reframe” the negative observations, feelings, and words client use to describe their situation. We replace a “fatalistic mental program” with an “upbeat program.” Helping the client train their mind to use appropriate phrasing gives the client that “hypno-enthusiasm,” that on-going “psychic pep talk,” that “healthy inner dialogue” needed to make Positive Changes!