So there is this story on the internet, in articles and in books used to illustrate how powerful the mind is. It's all about a patient (Mr. Wright) who, under the care of a certain doctor, was given medicine in 1957 that made a cancerous tumor the size of an orange completely disappear. But here is the interesting part of the story. It wasn't the medicine that dissolved the tumor, but it was the man's belief in what turned out to be a worthless medicine. His mind, and only his mind completely dissolved a large tumor. But after discovering the medicine was no good, the man relapsed and the tumor ended up killing him two days later.
As much as I believe that most successful "faith healing" is usually no more than a person's body (and the brain) reacting to expectation of a cure and trust in authority (put more simply - the placebo effect), and even though the story of the disappearing tumor would help me find clarity in an area of healing I am looking for clearer answers, something about this story seemed wrong. I think I wanted to believe the story, but the story looked to fishy. So as with many stories I read that are used to promote or confirm any doctrine or teaching (any side of the issues of today), I decided to research more about this case to see if there was truth behind the stories told.
MARKS OF MAKE-BELIEVE
For the first few hours of research, I thought I would not be able to find the genesis of this story and that it would be nothing more than an urban-legend-like/fake-news-like tales passed on to feed the hunger of the "mind over medicine" fans. The more I searched, the more I was siding with a legendary beginning to this tale. I was beginning to conclude this was one big fake story:
- I could not find the source of the story. One mark of an urban legend is that most of the stories claim to happen to a friend of a friend. For example: After a trip to Mexico, my brother's friend went to a dentist because he had a large sore on the inside of his back molar. When the dentist poked the sore, dozens of baby roaches poured out into his mouth. One of the signs this is not true is that it happened to a friend of a friend. If I talk to his friend, however, I will find out that it really happened to a friend of his friend. And if I talk to that person, I will hear the same thing. I will never find the source. Mr. Wright's story seemed not to have had a real source, even though books and articles used the story.
- Secondly, the story seems too good to be true. This is a second sign I thought the story was probably false. When a gun toting fanatic walked into a restaurant in Washington D.C., he was convinced he would find a secret underground vault filled with Hillary Clinton's child slaves. He hated Clinton so much that he bought the story that she kidnapped children and sold them as sex slaves. Where he heard this story is a mystery to me, but not the story itself. This type of story is common the political world because such stories justify fears and hates a group has. In other words, this story for the Clinton haters was too good to be true. Mr. Wright's disappearing tumor seemed too good to be true for a group that wants to believe that modern medicine is superseded by the power of the mind.
- Thirdly, some of the articles emphasized that the story was true..."this is true." As soon as I read those words, I was led to believe it was probably false. Any story or news station that has to tell you it is true without good evidence should be viewed with skepticism.
- Fourthly, the stories varied. Variation of a story is expected with popular stories because people adjust stories to fit their purposes for writing or telling the stories. This adjusting happens because people remember certain parts of stories but not all, or adjusting may happen to serve the purposes of convincing others of the story's truth. The biggest variation of Mr. Wright's story was the purpose of the drug involved. One story says it was only used on and successful with horses. Another story states that the drug was being tested in a controlled study on others in the hospital already. And a third story tells us that Mr. Wright had to demand being included in the trial. Each of these stories tell us that Mr. Wright had to force the Doctor to comply with his wishes.
Another variation is in the doctor's name. One article called him Dr. West and another said it was Dr. Klopfer. Once again, this is a sure sign that the story has been evolving. Nevertheless, even stories that have the earmarks of urban legend type of evolution can come from some story that started it all. So I began digging more into the story.
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| Dr. Klopfer |
I searched the names of the doctors and found one of them led me closer to the source. After several hours of searching the internet, I got closer to the source of this story. It turns out that Wikipedia mentioned that Dr. Bruno Klopfer wrote an article "Psychological Variables in Human Cancer", Journal of Projective Techniques, Vol.21, No.4, (December 1957), in which he described Dr. Wright's condition and response to a bogus medicine called "Krebiozen."
Finding out who the originator of this story was, I wanted to know who he was and if he was some quack. Wikipedia told me that he studied under Karl Jung (impressive), did research at Columbia University (equally impressive), and finally appointed Clinical Professor of Psychology at the University of California in Los Angeles. All of these titles give weight to the fact that the story of the disappearing tumor is legit and that the mind can in fact reduce the size of tumors and may even be able to destroy them entirely. However, being closer to the source and being impressed with the doctor's position, I still have my doubts. I suppose the biggest problem I had was that even though I was close to the source, I could not find the article itself and read what Dr. Klopfer himself wrote about Dr. Wright.
THE ETHICS OF MEDICINE RESEARCH
Several years ago I taught Medical Ethics in a local University. In my studies at that time, I discovered a commonly used trick among researchers and developers. In order to get the money needed to continue research, companies and researchers often falsify their findings, believing that further funds will help them to prove their theories right and thus pay off in the end for investors and for researchers. But this is a tricky deal with the devil, for while it pays off for many (it paid off for Steve Jobs on several occasions), it can backfire if further research does not produce the expected results.
One South Korean researcher, Woo Suk Hwang (in 2004-2005) claimed he had been able to produce cloning from embryonic cells because he was convinced he could with enough money. After being awarded the finances he needed, he was unable to produce his expected findings and went from the country's hero to his country's shame. "He lost his university position and his two important papers on embryonic stem cell research had to be retracted from the journal Science (http://stemcellbioethics.wikischolars.columbia.edu/The+Cloning+Scandal+of+Hwang+Woo-Suk)."I knew that even the best scientists and teachers can make mistakes or even manipulate their findings. Could Dr. Klopfer have created the story of the disappearing tumor in order to impress his peers and the Journal of Projective Techniques' readers? Did he exaggerate something that happened? Or was he an eye witness to the amazing power of the human body? I wonder if reading the original article would help me answer these questions, but because I don't have the original, I cannot conclude properly. The story of Mr. Wright is not helpful in getting closer to what goes on with faith healing.
ANOTHER CASE FROM MEDICAL JOURNALS
I am still not convinced Dr. Klopfer really saw a tumor dissolve so quickly and so easily. Dr. Klopfer was writing a book and needed illustrations to prove his point and I cannot honor people who are popular or educated on the basis of their popularity or position. I am afraid that I would have to see it or learn more about it in order to believe it.
The story sounds too urban legend-like for me to accept it without further proof, but as I mentioned, whether or not it happened, the stories that came from this article took a life of their own.
On the other hand, there is another story that likewise moves through generations of story tellers. Dr. Mason (1951) who treated a teen with arms covered in warts. "Most of the boy's body -- everything but his face, neck, and chest -- was covered in a "black horny layer" of skin that Mason said 'felt as hard as a normal finger-nail, and was so inelastic that any attempt at bending resulted in a crack in the surface, which would then ooze blood-stained serum (http://www.radiolab.org/story/299045-hypnotist-and-warts/).'"
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| From Dr. Mason's original report |
Dr. Mason used hypnosis (the placebo effect was not yet well known in 1951) and told the boy that one of his arms would clear up in two weeks. The repeated stories (even by NPR) tell us his arm completely cleared up, but the original report (I had to find the original report before I bought this story) said most of his arm cleared up.
After the doctor was told by his peers that what happened to the boy was considered impossible, the doctor was unable to help the teen any further. The doctor blamed his inability to further healing to his lack of belief in the possibility of healing to continue after finding out that what he did was impossible.
Why do I believe this story and not Dr. Klopfer's? Dr. Klopfer's story is too good. It fits too well within the framework of his book and there are no contradictions or failures in Dr. Klopfer's story. It is all too black and white. Dr. Mason however fails in further attempts to help the person.
Another reason I accept Dr. Mason's story is because I can get to the source, see the pictures and read from his experience first hand, as Dr. Mason worked with other doctors and filled out an official report with pictures and statistics which can be read by all (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2021155/pdf/brmedj03456-0026.pdf).
All in all, I conclude that the disappearing tumor story may be true, but without further proof, I don't have enough evidence to buy it to use it in further investigation.
THE DISAPPEARING TUMOR AND FAITH HEALING
I wrote this article because it demonstrates how important research is in the area of healing. A lot of people pass on stories and testimonies because such stories make people feel good, support opinions, "glorify God," and so on. However, even true stories change with each retelling, so in order to get to the bottom of each story, it is important to research.
Many stories will have no known source or sources that cannot be trusted. Most of these stories should be rejected, even when and especially when they support what you want to believe, whether you believe in faith healing or do not believe.
Finally, when I first began reading about Dr. Klopfer and Mr. Wright, I was hoping to find evidence (either way) if a tumor could disappear from a placebo effect or from a healing crusade. Unfortunately, I did not find the answer to this...at least, not yet.
This post is what I wrote for my site on healing. The principles of research should be taken as well into other areas as well. In fact, try taking the next real good juicy story you hear that claims to be true, research to find its source, and compare the differences.
