No doubt many of us have been worn out lately by the COVID-19 outbreak, dashing around in search of every kind of protective product. In chaotic times, when information is exploding all around us, all sorts of strange rumours and slogans tend to fill the airwaves: the salt-water gargle from before, the isatis root, and more recently the double-yellow lotus, and so on. A little critical thinking is usually enough to sense which pieces of information don't quite add up.
Does the virus have a soul?
Recently, a few rather supernatural claims have been making the rounds.
For example: that the virus has a soul, so you can communicate with it; that as long as you look after your mental health, your body will grow strong and able to resist the virus's invasion … and other equally extravagant claims. The reasoning behind them is that "everything arises from the mind" — in other words, that your mental state shapes your physical health, so getting your mind in order is the one true path to treating any bodily ailment.
As a psychology organisation, the Treehole team has a responsibility to give everyone the relevant information, so that you can weigh up the facts and tell right from wrong.
The Relationship Between Physical and Mental Health
Below we introduce two theories from modern psychology concerning the relationship between mental state and physical health. Academic research indicates that the two are linked to a certain degree — but not absolutely.
The Placebo Effect
A famous theory in which the mind influences the body: a patient is given a "medicine" with no therapeutic effect whatsoever — a sugar pill, say — to treat their cold. After taking it, the patient still feels their symptoms beginning to ease, because they believe the "medicine" they took works.
To prove that the drug being tested genuinely has a therapeutic effect, modern drug research runs a Randomized Controlled Trial, a procedure similar to blind testing. Participants are told that what they are taking is the drug under trial, but in fact they are split into two groups: one takes a placebo, the other takes the drug being tested. Only when the group taking the real drug shows clearly better results than the group taking the placebo is the drug deemed effective.
Psychosomatic Disorder
People with a psychosomatic disorder develop physical symptoms — most often stomach discomfort — yet when a doctor carries out a thorough physical examination, everything comes back normal, with no abnormality whatsoever in the body or its organs.
In the end these patients are referred to psychiatric or psychology-related services for a detailed assessment, and it turns out that those physical symptoms all stemmed from psychological knots. Once these patients receive appropriate support or treatment and the knots are untangled, the physical symptoms disappear.
Do physical problems and bodily ailments stem from the mind?
So, can we put bodily ailments down entirely to psychological problems?
Please don't forget that the world today is still home to a good many hereditary diseases. Those born to bear the pain of such conditions are in no way at fault, nor could they possibly have suffered psychological trauma or knots as infants. What made them ill is simply an abnormal arrangement of genes, or a genetic defect.
Conversely, plenty of people who have met with misfortune — or even been written off as black-hearted villains — are perfectly healthy!
Can the power of the mind cure COVID-19?
Both of the theories above show that mental and physical health are connected.
But does that mean simply keeping your mind healthy can ward off every disease?
A 1992 study on whether psychotherapy helps boost immunity found that good mental health does indeed help strengthen immunity — but that is not the same as an immediate improvement in health. So whether positive energy or the power of the mind really has such a mighty power to fight off the virus, or even to cure it, our discerning readers can surely judge for themselves.
Mental and Physical Health
From the discussion above, readers will by now understand that the two are linked to a certain degree, but not absolutely. Of course, maintaining a positive frame of mind and doing things that lift your spirits — meeting up with good friends, eating healthy and tasty food, getting plenty of sleep, and so on — will absolutely help strengthen your own immunity.
But we must bear in mind that what we are facing right now is COVID-19, a brand-new virus for which there is, for the time being, no vaccine and no proven cure. We must take active, effective precautions: wear a mask, wash our hands diligently, avoid crowded places, and make good use of disinfectant products to keep the home clean, and so on.
In an Information Explosion, Tell True from False
Finally, the Treehole team hopes everyone will hold on to their critical thinking. Seeing things in black and white will always be the easiest option.
But please stay calm, and give yourself a little time to consider whether a piece of information stands up to logic. Not everyone — not even those holding public office — has a basic grasp of science. Did we not see a Legislative Council member actually propose steaming a mask in 100-degree water to reuse it … We trust that Treehole's readers would never fall for such a crude trap.
Wishing you all good health, and a lifetime of peace and good fortune!
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