How do you describe your illness?

Does they way people describe their illness affect the eventual outcome? I think that is probably true as I had a woman in surgery this morning that was doing just that.
She had started a degree course in nursing but was now thinking of giving it up because she had a bad back. She was 32 years old and 18 months previously had been shunted from behind in a car accident. Her back hurt ever since. True it may still be hurting, but x-rays and an MRI scan were reassuring normal. ‘I have a chronic backache and it is only going to get worse.’ Well that is only true if she believes it to be. She went onto to say her mother had something similar and she never got over it, so she would be the same. Definitely not true as back injuries or weak backs are not hereditary. What made it worse is that the physiotherapist said that her discs between her vertebrae were dehydrated and that was difficult to treat. May be true but never heard of ‘dehydrated discs’ in 30 years of practice.
So here we have a woman with a story about her illness that tells of hopelessness and a lifetime of suffering in front of her, and her mother and physiotherapist support that story. The words she uses are negative and tend to reinforce the despair. It made me think does she really want to become a nurse and what are her motives of being sick. Well we did discuss that and she seemed genuine enough. Time to change the story and language. ‘Yes, you did have an injury 18 months ago but all the bruising and injury will have fully healed by now. Your muscles have become oversensitive as a result and that is why you are still in some discomfort. You will make a complete recovery provided you do regular exercise and stretches. Massage is useful. Walking and swimming is good. Use positive language to describe your progress to yourself and others, and imagine your back with tough flexible discs between the vertebrae.’
She came into the surgery with a frown on her face and left with a smile. Lets hope that it lasts.