Language can have a powerful impact on the patient experience and our perspectives on illness. Claudia Cometa, author, pharmacist, and founder at Peace Advocacy Group explains why to Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Claudia explains how her passion for advocacy arose following her father’s illness, and how moving away from images of a cancer ‘’battle’’ helps us to see our bodies as allies, rather than adversaries. She also highlights the barrier to healing created by the language of competition, how she found inspiration from the Princess of Wales, and why no patient should feel like they are a burden. Show Topics ‘’How is this the patient experience?’’ Seeing our bodies as allies, not adversaries Moving away from an ‘’illness identity’’ Overcoming the language of competition Creating a more peaceful patient experience Leadership tip: Twofold knowing 02:44 ‘’How is this the patient experience?’’ Claudia said it was her father’s cancer diagnosis that prompted a heart-centered decision towards advocacy. ‘’…my father was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, and I quickly was in crisis resolution mode. I was on the other side of the equation, jumped headfirst into that side as it just made sense. I was the only one in my family who was medically trained. And so I saw the other side of the system for the first time of any significance and was mortified like, "How is this the patient experience? How did I, number one, not know this was the patient experience and how am I just now coming to grips with what is happening on the other side of where I'm working?" And it was very discouraging. Obviously helping my father, you want the best care for your loved ones. And so to not be able to get that, to be dismissed, I ended up firing several hospital systems. It was a really, really negative experience. And that was with my oversight. That was with my deep understanding of the medical system, how to navigate it. …. And so I vowed at that point that I have to do for others what I did for him. There's just no other way around it. …. It was a feeling that I've never felt before. It was a heart-centered decision-making I had never done before…’’ 06:32 Seeing our bodies as allies not adversaries Claudia said using ‘’battle’’ language around cancer makes it sound like our bodies are the enemy. ‘’… if I go back to when I was helping my dad, I hadn't really come to this realization yet. And so I was the daughter who was posting on social media, "We're going to fight this, cancer chose the wrong girl." I just fell into the trap of what sounded like what I'm supposed to say. Like, "Yeah, I'm going to win this battle." And it wasn't until years later, well beyond when he passed away that I really started to question, some of this being part of my spiritual growth too and personal development, but how are those words really helping us? If we are really talking about whether it's cancer or another illness as if we're going into battle, and ultimately, we're going into battle with our own body. So if we are going into battle, there has to be a winner and a loser. It's no different from any war that we're used to in history class or any wars that happen right now. There's going to be somebody who's going to come out victorious and somebody who's going to be a loser. Is that the approach we have to take? Is it just that that's what we have heard, that's what's been modeled for us, that's what society has taught us? And so it feels good. It feels like, "Yeah, we're going to fight this." And so we have this internal, "Yeah, maybe this will fire me up if I feel like I'm going to go into battle and I'm going to put on my boxing gloves and I'm going to win this thing." Is there a better approach? Can we start to shift that into, instead of being at war or an adversary to our bodies or our bodies being the enemy, can we actually come back to it being an ally? So is it possible that the symptoms that we're experiencing, whether it's cancer or literally anything else, anything else that is a symptom we are experiencing, can that be seen as a message from our body? Because our body obviously isn't able to speak a language.’’ 11:04 Moving away from an’’ illness identity’’ Claudia said a ‘’mind over medicine’’ approach can help to change the language around cancer. ‘’So number one is, okay, maybe a second opinion wouldn't be cancer. I don't know. But then there's the second part of this deep-seated illness identity of if I move through my life with the statement, "I have cancer," running through my mind at all times, then I am acting like what I think a cancer patient is. And so it becomes a deep-seated shift in our identity. And I saw it with my dad. I wasn't able to process it till later. But it's like, "Okay, well, now I'm that person." And this is actually mind over medicine, it's ...
