OVERCOMING CANCER: DRAWINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF OUR PATIENTS’ MENTAL IMAGERY: GLENN
Posted by adminGlenn, a fifty-year-old clinical psychologist, has cancer of the kidney that metastasized to his lung, and he has remained stable for four years. Therefore, no treatment was being given, since chemotherapy was considered inappropriate for his disease.
In his first drawing, Glenn showed his cancer surrounded by white cells and the cancer mass gradually being reduced to a single cell. During his relaxation/mental imagery activity, he had difficulty eliminating the last cell, but he found when he was jogging that he could see the final cancer cell being absorbed by a giant white cell and disappearing.
Although in the drawing he does finally succeed in eliminating the cancer, there were some weaknesses in the imagery. The white blood cells seemed to work around the periphery of the cancer; there was little interaction, and they met the cancer only on the surface. (This desire to stay on the surface of the problem sometimes indicates an unwillingness to investigate the details of why one has developed cancer.) Also, destroying the last cancer cell required a tremendous effort on Glenn’s part: He had to be jogging before it could occur. There appeared to be something almost magical about that last cell, almost a hanging on to the disease and an indication that it would take a very large white cell and an extraordinary event finally to get rid of the cancer.
Six months later, his drawing showed more interaction between the white blood cells and the cancer, yet the size of the tumor relative to the size of the white cells did not suggest overwhelming strength on the part of the body’s defenses. A single, large white cell was shown suddenly appearing and shattering the tumor mass, and the tumor fragments were then absorbed by the ordinary white cells. Again, the drawing showed that an extraordinary event was required, and that until this magical event occurred, the cancer would remain intact. To us, Glenn’s picture illustrated an unwillingness to deal with small component problems and a tendency to wait for the one event that would explain and remedy everything.
Similar to his imagery, Glenn’s cancer has not regressed, though his general health is superb and he continues as professor and long-distance runner.
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