July 15, 2018 - Eye Health
Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam and I’m taking a break from my morning walk. I received the question today and it’s a very interesting one. I think it applies to a lot of people.
It has to do with if you’re doing some kind of healing modality, especially a complementary healing modality. What people experience is, that sometimes things may get worse before they get better, and other times things get better very quickly. Other people may notice fluctuations up and down, and they get better and worse. So let me give you an example.
I’m consulting some parents with kids who have crossed eyes and they’ve opted to do some of the vision therapy exercises and wear a lower prescription of eyeglasses. And they find that their kids sometimes go through a real breakup period, or a real chaotic phase, when they make changes. They asked me – is this normal?
So to answer this, I’m going to bring back my time when I was training at the Gesell Institute. Most of you haven’t heard of the Gesell Institute. This was affiliated with the Yale Study Center and it opened in 1948. A great doctor Dr. Arnold Gesell opened this center and he did a lot of research on human development. And I went there in the mid-80s and learned a lot from his institute about child development and how to treat learning disabilities. And one of the key concepts that I learned from Dr. Gesell was that there’s a spiral of development that happens and there are different stages. And one of the stages is called The Breakup Stage. This is really normal.
Think of it this way. Let’s say you’re doing something that you normally do and it’s familiar and it’s easy. And then all of a sudden somebody shows you a whole new way to do this particular task and you go “oh my goodness, I’m going to have to relearn everything!”. This is going to create some stress for a little bit of time and you’re going to find that the familiar ways of doing things aren’t going to work for you anymore. So you kind of go into a little bit of a frenzy. You get stressed out and you question yourself. But remember that this is all part of a normal development and learning, and when you break-through the breakup stage you will reorganize at a much higher level of efficiency.
So this can occur if you’re doing any kind of complementary therapy, if you’re taking certain supplements or vitamins, or be doing some physical therapy exercises. You might find that you go through this spiral change where things may feel like they’re getting worse for a little bit and then they’re going to get better.
My message is this – stay with it. Trust the process. Dr. Gesell’s work researched this very closely and its something I have observed for a long time in my clinical practice.
So that’s my message for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time take good care.