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If one feels sick and then one's thoughts are totally absorbed by something more important, one's sickness vanishes Auto-suggestion can play an important role. If one walks under a ladder and one expects it to bring bad luck, it will bring bad luck The ladder is quite harmless, but the bad luck comes because one expects it
In research undertaken in the United States, the conclusion was that American Chinese (but not Whites) die significantly younger if they have a disease coupled with a birth year which Chinese astrology and medicine consider ill-fated. The more strongly a person is attached to Chinese traditions the earlier he or she dies (Phillips, 1993: 1142). The research, written up in the British Medical Journal, demonstrated that, in the same way that a link between emotion and cancer has long been suspected, positive psychosocial intervention helps to increase one's chances of survival. To put it crudely, if you want to be sick you will be sick. Much is in the mind. In other words, in the long run thoughts can kill.
Although Chinese medicine and Chinese astrology are both complex, to give a simple example, a person's fate is influenced by his or her year of birth. Thus, according to Chinese belief, a person born in a certain year is also associated with an organ of the body or symptom So, a person born in a 'Fire Year' (1967 for example) would be specially susceptible to lumps, nodules and tumours. This means that, when a person contracts a disease which is associated with their birth year, they are more likely to feel helpless, hopeless or sore. This is especially so with American Chinese females (as opposed to males) who are less exposed to western influences outside the home
Some Chinese naturally argue that the fact such people die earlier only goes to prove that Chinese belief is correct. If this is so why is it then that the same findings do not emerge for white Americans? The conclusions of the research team were that the earlier deaths with many American Chinese were due, at least partly, to psychosomatic processes.
Returning to the flat in the case study in a similar fashion a crooked wall, which gave out 'latent energy' behind the head of the bed, was 'straightened' (concealed) by erecting a false wall. It now provides a 'better back-up'. It is also believed that it is not good to sleep with a mirror at the foot of a bed as, on waking, it can cause a fright and subsequent nervous disorder,
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