As a journalist, Cousins managed to win 26 years of life from fate, putting his immovable body and fortitude on the line

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Now it is no secret to anyone that laughter therapy is really capable of curing an incurable disease. Doctors have been talking about this for a long time, half a century ago I was convinced of this from my own experience and American journalist Norman Cousins, popularly described the phenomenon of his healing. Once, completely desperate in his misfortune, he decided to play roulette with his death, putting his immovable body and an irresistible desire to survive on the line. And in the end, thanks to laughter, he won 26 years of a fulfilling life … Wasn't it really worth the candle?

Optimists will probably agree that Norman Cousins' example of life love is not only worthy of admiration, but also of imitation. As it turned out, the desire to live with a terminally ill person is not just an empty phrase. The human body is capable of self-healing, but on condition that the person himself sincerely believes in it. Even if others are convinced that there is no hope … Therefore, after reading this fascinating and instructive story, many will probably think that a medical joke is possible: “if the patient wants to live, medicine is powerless” - and not a joke at all?

And it's all about him

Before starting my story about the amazing miracle of healing with laughter, first I would like to say a few words about Norman Cousins himself, who lived a rather long and fruitful life. American political journalist, writer, professor, fighter for world peace, and also an incredible optimist by nature, was born in 1915 in New Jersey, USA. After high school, he received a bachelor's degree from the College of Education of Columbia University in New York. He began his career as a journalist in 1934 as an ordinary employee of the New York Post, and a year later he was hired by Current History as a book critic. Later, he climbed the career ladder to the position of editor-in-chief of Saturday Review. He headed the publishing house until 1972. Demanding, but at the same time loyal, Norman Cousins has not fired a single employee of his editorial office over the years of his leadership. Moreover, under his leadership, the circulation of the publication increased from 20,000 to 650,000.

He was also President of the World Federalist Association and Chairman of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Committee. Back in the 1950s, he warned that the world was doomed to a nuclear holocaust if the threat of a nuclear arms race was not stopped. Cousins was the unofficial ambassador for peace in the 1960s. He facilitated negotiations between the Holy See, the Kremlin and the White House, which led to the signing of the Soviet-American treaty banning the testing of lethal weapons. For this contribution, he was personally thanked by President John F. Kennedy and Pope John XXIII, who presented his medallion as a token of gratitude.

Do not count all the awards, peace prizes, diplomas and honorary titles that this person was awarded for his deeds before humanity. But much of this might not have happened if it were not for the striving for life of Norman Cousins, who all his life sacredly believed in the power of hope and the realism of optimism.

The story of one healing. Between life and death

In 1964, Kansins suddenly felt very bad: the temperature rose, the whole body began to ache. His condition deteriorated catastrophically every day. It got to the point that it became difficult for him to walk, turn his head, move his hands.

In the clinic, after a series of tests, the journalist was diagnosed with collagenosis. To make it clear to the uninitiated, this is a disease in which the immune system shows aggression to its own connective tissue. Specialists at the Rehabilitation Clinic of Dr. Raska confirmed this diagnosis, while adding their own - ankylosing spondylitis. And with this disease, the entire skeletal system is affected. Soon the muscles and joints of Norman "stiffened", and after a while the body became completely motionless. Once it got to the point that he could not open his jaw to eat. His attending physician, Dr. Hitzig, said that the prognosis is disappointing, and that, as is known from practice, out of 500 patients with collagenosis, only one survives.

Cousins was shocked. Slowly and painfully to die - what could be worse? … Probably, any other person would have given up on hearing this. But, not the optimist Norman Cousins. Learning from the doctor that he has a scanty chance of recovery, the journalist did not sleep all night, thinking: By morning, a brilliant idea ripened in Norman Cousins's head: Cousins decided that if he wanted to stay alive, he had no right to continue. passively awaiting his death, he must try to mobilize all the reserves of his body with the help of laughter. And, despite the unbearable pain and the fact that he, Cousins, had no time for laughter for a long time, he decides to laugh at his illness. He still had nothing to lose: neither medicine nor procedures helped!

To the general protest of the doctors, Kansins insisted on being discharged from the clinic and checked into a hotel. Left under the supervision of only a nurse and Dr. Hitzig, who had to supervise the process of self-medication of his patient. Deciding to be treated according to his own method, Norman began to take huge doses of vitamin C intravenously and literally forcefully induce fits of laughter in himself. For this, a projector was delivered to his hotel room, on which the nurse played comedy films and various humorous TV shows. In between, she read humorous stories and anecdotes to Norman.

At first, the practically immovable patient looked gloomily at the screen, and sometimes grinned bitterly, thinking: But, gradually distracting from his sad thoughts and getting involved in the process, he began to smile slightly, then giggle and even laugh!

Once, laughing heartily for ten minutes in a row and sleeping for two whole hours without feeling pain, Norman felt incredibly happy. - he told later about his method of healing.

Gradually, Norman began to laugh so that his eyes became puffy and tears rolled down his cheeks. Sometimes it was even difficult for him to stop. In the end, six hours of laughter a day did the trick.

To find out if laughter can actually reduce inflammation, Dr. Hitzig took blood tests from the patient immediately before and after the laughing session. And every time I was convinced that the inflammatory process in the body is declining. Norman felt elated, the old adage taking on a real basis. Doses of drugs were gradually reduced, and over time, Norman stopped taking them altogether. He also refused sleeping pills - a dream returned to him.

Several weeks later, Cousins could move his fingers for the first time without pain. He could not believe his eyes: the thickenings and knots on the body began to decrease. After another month, he could roll over the bed, and after a few months the moment came when he got out of bed and began to learn to walk and control his body again. The mobility of the joints increased just before our eyes, the arms and legs obeyed again. It was a real miracle for Cousins and his loved ones, because the doctors considered him doomed! And finally, the day came when Cousins was able to return to tennis, horse riding and playing the organ, and most importantly, to his favorite work. After this incredible healing, Norman Cousins was called the man who made death laugh.

Has Cousins fully recovered? Perhaps it is impossible to say so. In medicine, there are other terms for such cases: compensation, remission. But there is a fact: Cousins conquered an incurable disease with the help of laughter and stayed alive. And one day, ten years later, Norman met one of the doctors who worked on him in the clinic and who sentenced him to a slow death. Having recognized the patient in Cousins, he was completely stunned by his healthy appearance. Norman, on the other hand, gripped the doctor's hand with such force that he winced in pain. This handshake was more eloquent than any words.

Cousins, after an incredible survival, conducted research into the biochemistry of human emotion, which he long believed was the key to human success in fighting disease. Norman Cousins described his struggle with a fatal illness and the method of laughter therapy in detail in his book "The Anatomy of a Disease in the Patient's Perception", published in 1979.

By the way, thanks to laughter therapy, Norman had to get out of the clutches of death more than once. In addition to collagenosis, he twice suffered a heart attack. So, three times on the brink of death, Cousins each time saved himself with super doses of laughter. Norman Cousins died of heart failure in 1990 in Los Angeles, at the age of 75, having lived much longer than his doctors predicted.

P. S. Some interesting facts about laughter

Just think: Of all living beings on Earth, only man is characterized by conscious laughter and he begins to laugh for the first time at the age of four months - and this is much earlier than talking. And since that time, he practically does not spend a day of his life without a smile.

And another aspect of laughter lies in its social phenomenon. Many have probably noticed that surrounded by people we laugh much more often than alone. As scientists have calculated, this happens almost 30 times more often, and much more intensively. So, even a very funny anecdote read to oneself is likely to make us smile, not burst of laughter. And watching a comedy in the cinema is often much more fun than at home.

Curiously, by the way a person laughs, you can learn about his essence. For example, F. M. Dostoevsky:

However, even the Bible says: "A cheerful heart is wholesome, like medicine, but a dull spirit dries up the bones" … So draw your own conclusions.

And in continuation of today's topic about the strength of the human spirit, I would also like to recall the fate of a simple guy from the Russian provinces, who, being completely paralyzed, painted pictures. Yes, and what kind. You can read this sentimental story in our publication: How a paralyzed young man wrote 200 sci-fi pictures: Doomed to immobility Gennady Golobokov.