I am reading a fascinating book by Hungarian-born Canadian author, speaker, and retired physician with a special interest in childhood development and trauma and how it impacts on physical and mental health, addictions and a wide range of illnesses such as cancer, autoimmune diseases and ADHD and many other conditions. The title of this book I am reading by DR Gabor is When the Body Says No - Exploring the stress-disease connection.
Dr Mate is a fascinating character, like most Hungarians are. He also has an immeasurable empathy and love for those he is talking about and working with. Rare in the medical profession. Dr Mate is light years ahead of the standard medical profession in his views and his recognition of the importance and the role trauma and emotions play in developing diseases.
Although his book is not exactly a popular novel, I still hardly could put it down. Dr Mate is a very eloquent speaker-writer and his style is highly enjoyable, even when he is writing about medical terms and serious issues.
However, on page 96 he made me stop and think. Think seriously about being Hungarian. Hungarians have culture, arts and music in their blood. In their genes. This is what made me stop and think. While for almost one hundred pages he discussed cases and brought examples of people, his patients, on page 96 Dr Mate grabbed me by the heart. Suddenly he was writing about Bela Bartok, Hungary’s most outstanding composer. Even if I did not know that he was born in Hungary, here he has revealed himself. Himself, his origin and his heart.
Bartok’s case of leukemia and his remission is fascinating.
Page 96
“ At the University of Rochester, a fifteen-year study of people who developed lymphoma or leukemia reportedly found that these maligmancies were “apt to occur in a setting of emotional loss or separation which in turn brought about feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger or hopelessness.”
Synthetic analogues of the stress hormone cortisol are important components of the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma. Interestingly, the amount of cortisol-like hormone needed to block the replication of leukemia cells is only a little higher than what should normally be functionally available in the body In the case of leukemia, episodes of acute stress in which the cortisol levels temporarily rise are sometimes enough to induce a remission. Such is thought to have happened during the illness of the composer Bela Bartok.
We need to recall here that the temporary elevation of cortisol that occurs in episodes of. Acute stress is healthy and necessary. Not healthy are the chronically elevated cortisol levels in chronically stressed persons.
Bartok, in exile from his native Hungary and stricken with leukemia, was commissioned by the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitsky, to write a new piece. The composer went into spontaneous remission, which lasted until the work was completed. Quite likely, HPA-triggered cortisol and several other elements of the PNI system contributed to the famous remission, which made possible the creation of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, a classic of twentieth-century music.”
The Concerto was composed by Bela Bartok in 1943, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitsky on 1st December 1944. Bela Bartok has died in New York City on 26th September 1945.
Enjoy this performance of the Concerto by Bartok performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa https://youtu.be/KP-DAOuBsGA?si=6uwQIWUNArBkI44V
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