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Logical thought and magical thought
Published in Silvia Bonino, Coping with Chronic Illness, 2020
As has been said, a first function of magism is cognitive. The recourse to magical thinking and the abandonment of scientific therapeutic practices are all the greater when the patient has less of an understanding of the causes of their illness itself, its evolution and possible developments. Here we touch on a topic about which the situation of our health service is very critical. Although doctors who treat chronic patients in general are much more attentive than others to these aspects, there remains much to be done, while taking into account the objective difficulties of understanding and forecasting in chronic disease. It is necessary to dedicate time to explain to a patient, in understandable terms and taking into account their cultural level, with the help of concrete support systems, not only with words, the causes of one’s illness, the reason for a therapy, the reasons for a certain decision. We need to be patient in listening to the patient and their questions, and even more in putting them in the condition of feeling authorized to ask and express their doubts, not feeling compelled to say “yes” even when nothing is understood. This work can be done in part individually and in part in groups, both to save time and to promote the diffusion of knowledge among patients and the discussion between them.
Signs and Symptoms in Psychiatry
Published in Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay, Essentials of Psychiatric Assessment, 2018
Magical thinking means believing in things more strongly than either evidence or experience justifies. Magical thinking is illogical, often attributing more connectedness to events than is actually the case; many superstitions are examples of culturally validated magical thinking. Individual examples might include the belief an extramarital affair was responsible for a traffic accident, or it will rain because he/she got up on the left side of the bed. Such thinking is common among children and obsessive-compulsive or schizophrenic patients, but it is not necessarily indicative of psychopathology. Sometimes a magical belief forms an overvalued idea.
Evaluation of complementary and alternative therapies
Published in Peter R Wilson, Paul J Watson, Jennifer A Haythornthwaite, Troels S Jensen, Clinical Pain Management, 2008
Miles J Belgrade, Cassandra D Schamber
Acceptance of CAM by physicians is not uniform. Many physicians themselves are practitioners of one or more complementary therapies. Others are skeptical, misinformed, or oppositional. All physicians share a culture that respects logical thinking, responsibility, and evidence-based treatment. Physicians as a whole abhor magical thinking and pandering, particularly in regard to patients with serious illness. Many physicians have seen patients die with cancer who were led to alternative therapies by alternative practitioners who pandered to vulnerable patients. These practitioners often exploit patients fear of medical treatment and its side effects by promising “natural” cures.
Stimulating unconscious processes with metaphors and narrative
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2022
The structure of a therapeutic story can also evoke an initiatory journey, in which the protagonist explores unknown lands and hidden territories, challenging him/her to find both limits and hidden resources. By following this structure, the therapist can build many variations on the universal themes of exploration, salvation, and care. Each story will also have its own tone, whether pedagogical (or andragogical, the learning process of adults), challenging or encouraging, pragmatic or transcendental. In creating a story, the therapist can also adopt different styles of thinking: magical thinking can be intertwined with scientific knowledge, the laws of indifferent nature with empathy, philosophy with religions, astrology with astronomy, or historical figures with archetypes. The therapist can also create a therapeutic story by taking a cue from personal and professional knowledge and also from direct experiences, or other patients’ anecdotes.
Does the Homo Hypnoticus Exist? Personality Styles of People Interested in Hypnosis
Published in International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2020
Connections between hypnotizability and “positive” aspects of schizotypy have already been found by Jamieson and Gruzelier (2001) and Gruzelier et al. (2004). In a study by Barkus et al. (2010), higher reported levels of dissociative experiences and higher suggestibility both independently predicted higher scores of positive schizotypy, although suggestibility appeared to be a stronger predictor than dissociation. Cardeña and Terhune (2014) found connections between the personality aspect of self-transcendence and hypnotizability; self-transcendence in turn is associated with schizotypy (see Laidlaw et al., 2005). The results of Dasse et al. (2015) go in a similar direction, namely a positive correlation between hypnotizability and values of the Magical Ideation Scale, which captures magical thinking and schizotypical experiences. For example, an item in the Magical Ideation Scale is “Some people can make me aware of them just by thinking about me.” This corresponds with the schizotypy item No. 6 of the PSDI: “I believe others sometimes feel my emotions even if they are far away.” Connors et al. (2014) also found correlations between hypnotizability, delusion proneness, and the cognitive-perceptual subscale of schizotypy.
Facts and Fetishes: When the Miracles of Medicine Fail Us
Published in The American Journal of Bioethics, 2018
One physician respondent in the same study reflects upon the magical thinking of doctors and the conflict that occurs when medical facts become fetish: We believe in our miracles and we get families to believe in our miracles … There is a lot of magical thinking … doctors want success. So there's, “we did it last time,” or “we did it for that patient,” or “my colleagues did it for that patient and now I want to do it for my patient” … The question is, when do you stop pursuing the miracle? [Our ethicist] said “For the last thirteen months, you have [the mother] orientated towards the miracle … you told her you were pursuing a miracle but now at month eleven you suddenly say you can't … She's going to take time to come to that conclusion.” (B2)