Coping with serious illness, and ultimately overcoming it, isn’t just about the state your body is in. It’s also about your state of mind, and the way the mind and body work together. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) treats the mind and body as an open loop system with both constantly feeding back into one another, making it a powerful tool for helping to deal with illness.

Research has shown that psychological interventions can promote better physical wellbeing both prior to and following heart attacks. Additionally, counselling before surgery leads to quicker recovery times and lessens the emotional impact of the entire process. Recovery can also be boosted by psychotherapy in the aftermath of a major procedure, decreasing the chance of readmission.

For cancer patients, a range of psychological treatments have been used to improve their condition. There is evidence that targeted therapy can improve patients’ moods, reduce emotional distress and make it easier to cope with what can often be a gruelling treatment process.

It’s completely normal to experience intense emotions upon the discovery of a serious illness, but it’s important to move beyond feelings of hopelessness if healing is going to be as successful as possible. In order to develop effective coping strategies, sources of emotional strength need to be located and tapped into. NLP can be immensely helpful in this respect.

Once an illness has been successfully treated, NLP can continue to help people deal with whatever new challenges may arise as a result of long-term lifestyle changes such as retirement or partial disability. Serious illnesses can leave people feeling like their identity has undergone a fundamental shift, but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing. Many people who have survived serious illnesses say that they have emerged with a clearer idea of what is important to them, and ultimately feel their life has more purpose.

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