{"id":3211,"date":"2019-08-31T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/?p=3211"},"modified":"2020-02-11T18:58:20","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T18:58:20","slug":"story-the-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/31\/3211\/","title":{"rendered":"The Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>The case history \u201cThe Villa\u201d illustrates the technique of influencing an immune disease or other somatic disorder through metaphorical instructions which imply progress alone and exclude any possibility of relapses. It is also useful for promoting the healing of wounds or bone fractures<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I once had a patient who was an architect and who suffered\nfrom Crohn\u2019s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease. The cortisone preparations\nand surgical interventions used to treat it had placed an enormous strain on\nher body. After attending a number of therapy sessions, the disease seemed to\nhave remitted somewhat. I said to her, \u201cImagine your body is a magnificent old house\nawaiting renovation \u2013 what does it look like?\u201d She described a Wilhelminian-style\nvilla surrounded by lush greenery, with exquisite stucco work, superb wallpaper\nand elegant furniture. The house appeared to have been neglected for many years.\nWherever the eye turned, there were traces of water damage, cracks in the walls\nand crumbling plaster. Many of the formerly beautiful features now looked neglected\nand derelict. \u201cWhat does the restoration team need to do?\u201d I asked. She listed\na number of jobs, and we discussed the order in which they should be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I asked for an update on the renovations at each of\nthe following therapy sessions, and was always told that the workmen had made\nprogress. What choice did they have? After all, renovations go forwards, not backwards.\nOnce the woman told me, \u201cThe original features in this room have been damaged\nto the extent that the workmen are unable to restore them faithfully. They replace\nwhat is missing to the best of their ability, and try to make it look like it\nmight once have done.\u201d After another few weeks she told me that the renovators\nhad finished their work, and that the villa had been fully renovated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was around four years ago, and her state of health has been significantly better ever since.<a href=\"#_ftn1\">[<\/a><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The case history \u201cThe Villa\u201d illustrates the technique of influencing an immune disease or other somatic disorder through metaphorical instructions which imply progress alone and exclude any possibility of relapses. It is also useful for promoting the healing of wounds &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/31\/3211\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3683,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211\/revisions\/3683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}