We’ve Got Patient Empowerment All Wrong
There’s no doubt that the patient empowerment movement is changing the way medicine is practiced for the benefit of everyone involved. Patients are getting more education about choices of treatment and have more input into medical decisions. Excellent educational tools, like videos which discuss the benefits and risks of complex medical procedures and which demystify medical decision making, have been developed and are being used more and more often to help patients make informed choices. The patient empowerment movement has opened the lines of communication between doctors and patients, leading to more honest and productive conversations about care. It has helped doctors listen to patients and helped patients understand doctors.
ALL OF THESE CHANGES ARE IMPORTANT AND MEANINGFUL. BUT, LET’S BE CLEAR: THEY’RE NOT EMPOWERMENT.
Patient empowerment, as defined by the medical community, is actually education and self-advocacy. Both of these factors are essential, but they are not the same thing as true empowerment. By equating empowerment with choice making, we’re selling empowerment short.
I’m a word nerd, so I find it helpful to trace a word’s origin to find its true meaning.
Empowerment is a combination of the prefix em- (a variant of en-), which means “to cause to be in” and the word power, which means “the ability to do or act” and “the capability to accomplish something.”
Empowerment, at its root, means to cause to be a state of power. To be strong. To have the ability to do, act, and accomplish.
That’s a very different from being informed and making educated choices. The medical community’s idea of “patient empowerment” doesn’t recognize the true power of the patient.
What is a truly empowered patient? How would a truly empowered patient act?
An empowered patient recognizes that her body has the power to repair itself.
An empowered patient never doubts that she has the capability to affect and change her health.
An empowered patient acts to improve her health and wellbeing.
An empowered patient knows that she is an essential part in her own recovery.
This state of patient empowerment isn’t a fantasy or something which only a few people can achieve. Each and every person has a huge amount of power when it comes to affecting his or her own health. In fact, there is no other factor which has a greater effect on our health than our own habits and thoughts and choices.
What we believe and what we do influences our health more than pollution, or environmental toxins, or food additives, or any of the host of other health hazards which we hear about on a daily basis.
Our beliefs directly influence our genes. Ongoing epigenetic research is demonstrating how our thoughts and emotions change gene expression. Thoughts about stress or worry or fear cause the release of unique pattern of neurotransmitters and hormones which deactivate key genes related to normal cellular function and can derail the body’s healthy self-repair systems. And the opposite is true, too. The neurotransmitters and hormones released in response to positive states of emotion boost the body’s cellular repair mechanisms.
THE RESULT: POSITIVE THOUGHTS EQUALS BETTER HEALTH.
Your body can and does repair itself. It’s doing so right now, as you read this post. Your habitual thoughts and beliefs can either help or hinder your body’s’ function. It’s your choice.
That’s real empowerment.
