HEALING GOD’S WAY

Addressing the mind-body-spirit connection.
Kiri Christina Hyatt, editor

1. Ministry Article: The Dangers of Fantasy, Part 1
2. Message From A Friend
3. Site of the Week
4. Science in the News 
   4.1 Study Looks at All the Lonely People
   4.2 Many Men Who Have Sex With Men Deny Being Gay
   4.3 Lonely People Wake Up with a Hormonal Boost
   4.4 1 In 8 Show 'Problematic' Internet Use
   4.5 Heavy mobile use 'damages sperm'

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1. MINISTRY ARTICLE: THE DANGERS OF FANTASY, PART 1
   Kiri Christina Hyatt 2006 (c)

First I want to say not all fantasy is bad. There are a lot of good fiction books, including those in the fantasy genre to read. The recent block buster film based on the book ‘The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe’ is just one example of excellent fantasy. Not only is the story fun, but there are a number of moral lessons for the readers/viewers and Christian themes are abundant. There are a number of good Christian fiction writers producing some excellent entertainment for those of you who are bookworms.

So I am not against reading fiction or renting a Pixar movie this weekend.

Fantasy though can cause problems. Fantasy is not real life. It is fiction. Whether we talk about a good movie or book or just our own imagination, we must always remember that even movies based or inspired by a true story is not totally truth. There is a little fiction in it for it is impossible to tell a story that took place over several years in two hours without changing a few facts and condensing the story. We need to remember that fiction is not reality. It is not real life.

There are several forms of fantasy that can lead down a path to destruction. I do not have time to discuss them all but hopefully I will provide you with enough insight to help you determine if you are on a dangerous path.

The first form is different for men and woman. Women seek relationships. Men are more visual. For men it is pornography. For women it is romance novels and soap operas.

I recently read an article in a Christian magazine from a woman who had gone to Christian schools and was very involved in her church. She looked down on people who had affairs as the worst sinners. The article addressed the five lies that led to her having an affair. The first lie is ‘What I think about doesn’t matter as long as I don’t act on it’. This woman thought reading romance novels was fine. Her rational was that she was not hurting anyone. The truth was she was escaping into romance novels instead of addressing the problems in her marriage. The men in those novels seemed perfect. They were so attentive and caring, whereas her husband tended to neglect her. The more she fed her mind on those novels, the more dissatisfied she became with her husband. It took a few years, but filling her mind with fictional men who seemed perfect led her to an affair and the destruction of her marriage.

Romance novels are not the only problem. I know someone who is convinced soap operas led his ex-wife to have several affairs. Romance novels and soap operas portray men in ways that us woman want them to be but not the way they really are. They also excite our sexual appetite. Then when our spouse is not like the men featured in the novels or soap operas, we become bitter and even lonelier.

The Internet is now providing a new form of fantasy that is destroying marriages and people’s lives. Chat rooms may seem innocent, but counselors, including Christian counselors are seeing a huge increase in the number of marriages in trouble due to online affairs. Often these relationships start out innocent. Just two people sharing online. They may meet in a chat room or meet in a different forum online. But what starts out as just friends can quickly turn into romance and an emotional affair. Sometimes these relationships move from the computer to meeting in person.

The problem is online relationships are often fantasy. Even if you are single and seriously looking for a spouse, you need to be careful when it comes to online dating. People often lie about themselves. The picture they post may be of someone else or when he/she was 20 years younger. The person you are talking too may leave out very important details about his or her life. Like being married and having several children, or having a criminal record, or simply fabricating who they really are. If you are looking for a spouse and using the Internet to find one, just be very careful and do your research.

If you are in a relationship, then online chatting with someone of the opposite sex should be avoided. If your spouse does not know the person, then there is a problem.

Instead of escaping into fantasy, we need to address the real problems in our real relationships.

Jesus said, "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28).

The same is true for woman. When you are reading romance novels or watching soap operas, you are basically lusting after another man, whether real or an actor. Romance novels and soap operas can not only lead a person to commit adultery, but in reality anyone spending time in this type of fantasy is having an affair of the heart.

If you have to watch your soap opera or read the latest romance novel to hit the bookstores, then you are very likely having an affair of the heart. Take the time to ask God why you are addicted to these types of fantasy. If you do not think you are addicted but enjoy reading romance novels or romantic television programs or movies, then ask God if what you are doing is a sin. Remember to ask God if there is something in your life you are escaping from or an emotional issue that needs to be healed.

2. MESSAGE FROM A FRIEND

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. - Plato (c. 427-347 B.C.)

Source: Bits & Pieces, Copyright (c) Economic Press, Inc http://www2.ragan.com/html/main.isx?sub=226
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BROKEN THINGS

If you have or are struggling with sexual addiction or homosexuality, there are a number of links on AOCCCI’s web site to ministries that can help you:

DISCLAIMER: The following news stories are provided as a source of scientific information on mind/body medical research,environmental issues, and other topics.   AOCCCI does not necessarily agree with all the viewpoints or suggestions expressed in these articles. Not all viewpoints and/or therapy modalities recommended in these secular news stories are compatible with Christianity. If you have any questions or doubts about a therapy mentioned in a news story below,feel free to contact AOCCCI for advice. These news stories are provided as a public service only.  

4.1 Study Looks at All the Lonely People
    March 19, 2006

(HealthDay News) -- More than a third of adults say they are lonely, especially people in their 40s, a new study shows.

U.K. and Australian researchers conducted 30-minute phone interviews with 1,289 adults in the state of Central Queensland, in Australia.

They found that 35 percent of the respondents said they were lonely. People aged 50 and older had the lowest levels of loneliness. Levels of loneliness began to rise at age 20 and peaked between the ages of 40 and 49.

People with strong religious beliefs were less likely to be lonely than people who had no such beliefs. Women were more likely to have strong religious beliefs, which may explain why women reported lower levels of loneliness than men, the researchers said.

Retired people were less likely than unemployed people to be lonely, and there was a link between household income and loneliness -- people with lower incomes reported higher levels of loneliness.

The researchers found no significant association between loneliness and how long a person lived in their current community.

"Understanding what makes people lonely is very important, as loneliness can increase the risk of health conditions, such as heart disease and depression, and other problems such as domestic violence," researcher Professor William Lauder, of the University of Dundee in Scotland, said in a prepared statement.

"One of the most interesting findings in this study is that it challenges the belief that retirement is linked to diminished social contacts and that people get lonelier as they get older," Lauder said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians explains emotional health.

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4.2 Many Men Who Have Sex With Men Deny Being Gay
    September 19, 2006

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A substantial percentage of men who have homosexual sex still consider themselves "straight," a survey of New York City men suggests.

The findings imply that doctors should not rely on a man's self-described sexual orientation in assessing his risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Instead, they should ask patients specific questions about their sexual behavior, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Preeti Pathela of the New York City health department.

The findings are based on a 2003 health department survey that included 4,193 men age 18 and up. Respondents were asked about their sexual behavior and their sexual orientation.

Almost 4 percent said they were homosexual, while 91 percent described themselves as "straight." The rest said they were bisexual, "unsure," or declined to answer.

But of men who considered themselves heterosexual, nearly 10 percent had had sex with a man, but no woman, in the past year, Pathela's team found. And of the 337 survey respondents who'd had sex with another man, almost 73 percent identified themselves as straight.

Cultural norms may have played a significant role in the discrepancy, according to the researchers. Foreign-born men, who make up a large proportion of New York City men, were more likely than their U.S.-born counterparts to call themselves heterosexual despite having sex with other men.

Men raised in cultures less accepting of homosexuality may be "reluctant" to identify themselves as such, Pathela's team notes, or they may have a narrow definition of what constitutes homosexuality.

In general, self-described heterosexuals, whether they had sex with men or not, had fewer sexual partners than men who said they were homosexual. However, self-described straight men who had sex with other men were less likely than gay men to have had an HIV test recently or to use condoms.

This pattern is "troubling," according to the researchers, and it highlights the need to target STD prevention messages beyond men who call themselves homosexual.

"It is of utmost importance for providers to take a sexual history that ascertains the sex of (the) partner or partners," Pathela's team writes. "Given our data, asking about a patient's sexual identity will not adequately assess his risk."

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, September 19, 2006 

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4.3 Lonely People Wake Up with a Hormonal Boost
    Science News
    October 30, 2006

Sleeping with a lonely heart brings a hormone jolt in the morning. That surge is delivered by cortisol, a stress hormone often linked with negative biological effects, such as depression and obesity. But in daily life, researchers studying older people have found, cortisol might be helpful in getting the forlorn out of bed.

Throughout the day, cortisol levels in the bloodstream vary. When people wake up in the morning, their cortisol is low. About half an hour later, though, it spikes upward. Then it dwindles, dropping to its lowest level around midnight. But, scientists say, the daily ups and downs of life might affect how much of this hormone is actually released.

Emma Adam, an associate professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, and her colleagues recruited people born between 1935 and 1952 from an ongoing health and aging study in Chicago. For three days participants swabbed their mouths to collect cortisol-containing saliva. They swabbed when they woke up, 30 minutes later and right before they went to sleep. Each night, the participants also filled out questionnaires that inquired about their day, asking them to note if they felt lonely, angry or tired. "The question of loneliness is particularly important for older adults," says Adam. Loneliness is a stressor that can lead to physical and health problems in older people.

Adam found that each person's daily experiences interacted with their cortisol levels. Older adults who went to bed lonely, sad or overwhelmed got a bigger jolt of cortisol the next morning than those who felt otherwise, the researchers report online in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. This boost, Adam says, might get lonely people up and out into the world where they see and speak with other people. The amount of cortisol in this burst, Adam hypothesizes, is regulated so that they have as much as they need to get through the day.

Other social and emotional experiences also influence this hormone, the researchers have found. Older adults who reported themselves as being angry had higher levels of cortisol throughout the day. Their hormone levels were revved up and did not slide off as the day progressed. Conversely, people who never got that pep-up shot of cortisol in the morning felt tired throughout the day. "Our biology and experience are much more tightly interwoven than you think," Adam explains. So lonely hearts need not stay lonely if their body can help it. --Ciara Curtin

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4.4 1 In 8 Show 'Problematic' Internet Use
    By Miranda Hitti
    Oct 23, 2006

(WebMD) As many as one in eight American adults may have at least one sign of "problematic" Internet use, according to a new study.

The study was based on a phone survey of 2,500 adults; two-thirds of whom said they use the Internet regularly. It appears in CNS Spectrums: The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine. Researchers included Elias Aboujaoude, MD, who directs the Impulse Control Disorders Clinic at Stanford University's medical school.

The survey covered a wide range of topics, with eight questions on Internet use.

Here are the questions and responses:

__Do you feel your personal relationships have suffered as a result of excessive Internet use? (6 percent said "yes")
__Do you conceal nonessential Internet use? (9 percent "yes")
__Do you feel preoccupied by the Internet when you're offline? (4 percent "yes")
__Do you find it difficult to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time? (14 percent "yes")
__Do you go online to escape problems or relieve a negative mood? (8 percent "yes")
__Have you tried to cut back on your Internet use? (12 percent "yes")
__If so, did you succeed? (94 percent "yes")
__How often do you stay online longer than you intended? (12 percent said "very often" or "often")

Each problematic behavior elicited a "yes" response from between 4 percent and 14 percent of respondents (percentages are rounded). That doesn't mean all of those people were Internet addicts. If there is such a thing as Internet addiction, its diagnosis may require more than one symptom.

Internet addiction isn't recognized as a condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the handbook used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental illness, the researchers note.

The questions on Internet use in the survey were based on other disorders.

Survey participants did not mirror the U.S. population; for instance, men and Hispanics were underrepresented. But the researchers adjusted for those gaps.

The study was funded in part by the drug company Forest Laboratories. In the journal, Aboujaoude notes ties to Forest Laboratories, as well as to other drug companies.

SOURCES: Aboujaoude, E. CNS Spectrums: The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine, October 2006; Vol. 11: pp. 750-755. News release, Stanford University.

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4.5 Heavy mobile use 'damages sperm'
      Heavy use of mobile phones may damage men's fertility, a study
      has suggested.
    BBC News
    October 24, 2006

Researchers found those men who used a phone for four hours or more a day had fewer sperm and those they had moved less well and were of poorer quality.

The Ohio study involving 364 men was presented to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in New Orleans.

But a UK expert said it was unlikely the phones were to blame, as they were in use and not near the testes, and it may be being sedentary was the cause.

The team from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio tested the sperm of 364 men who were being treated at fertility clinics in Mumbai, India, with their partners.

It was found that the heaviest users, those who used their phones for more than four hours a day had the lowest average sperm counts, at 50 million per millilitre (ml) and the least healthy sperm.

Men who used their phones for between two and four hours a day averaged sperm counts of 69 million per ml and had moderately healthy sperm.

Those who said they did not use mobile phones at all had the highest average sperm counts, of 86 million per ml, and their sperm was of the highest quality seen.

'Used without thinking twice'

Dr Ashok Agarwal, who led the research, told the New Orleans conference the study did not prove mobiles damaged fertility, but said it showed more research was warranted.

"There was a significant decrease in the most important measures of sperm health and that should definitely be reflected in a decrease in fertility, which is seen worldwide.

"People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences might be.

"It is just like using a toothbrush, but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility.

"It still has to be proved, but it could be having a huge impact because mobiles are so much part of lives."

He suggested radiation from mobile phones might harm sperm by damaging DNA, affecting the cells in the testes which produce testosterone or the tubes where sperm is produced.

But a British expert cast doubt on the suggested link between mobile phone use and infertility in the men studied.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "This is a good study, but I don't think it tackles the issue.

"If you're using your phone for four hours a day, presumably it is out of your pocket for longer.

"That raises a big question: how is it that testicular damage is supposed to occur?"

Dr Pacey, who is honorary secretary of the British Fertility Society, added: "If you are holding it up to your head to speak a lot, it makes no sense that it is having a direct effect on your testes."

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