Tumors are the screams of silent children

Tumors are the screams of silent children
Tuesday January 10, 2006

Dear Mrs Miller,
I am oncologist, trying to cure cancer patients with chemotherapy and raditherapy. In my work with my patients I became aware how damaged their psychic life is. Nobody taught me (even not during my medical school)how to talk or to deal with psychic life in such patients. When I have proposed to some of them to go to the psychiatrist they told me that I am their doctor and that they dont w! ant psychiatrist. So I decided to go for an education in Group psychoanalisis in my town Zagreb at the Referal centre for the group analysis. There I, myself, had personal group analysis for 4 years. Now I can start, besides my regular work, having group of patients under the supervision of the experienced therapist.
This was very long introduction.
I have red all your books and the “Die revolte des Koerpers” also. And started your last book to translate into croatian in order to give it to my patients. And than I became aware that translatin and publishing your book without your permision would be a kriminal. I wanted to ask you how would it be possible for me to get any kind of permision from you to translate or even publish your book? I hesitated to write to you but I am not a profitable organisation, I am yust myself trying to do something for my patients in the way I can.
I whish you happy New Year and hope hearing from you soon.
Kind regards,
Dr. A. F.
Zagreb, Croatia

AM: The owner of my foreign rights is my German publisher Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt/M. If you find a Croatian publisher it would be certainly useful for the patients. But maybe too late. You can help them already by knowing what the book is about and translate them some pages that you find important and helpful. I don’t think that your patients need psychology or psychiatric help, they reject it anyway. In no way they need psychoanalytical theories. What they doubtlessly need is to come in contact with their emotions, with the history of their childhood and the tragedies connected to it. They have denied them their whole lives. Thanks to your compassion (see my article on “Indignation” and other articles on this site) they may dare to give up their denial and I would not be surprised if their tumors would decrease. Because these tumors are the screams of the silent children who never showed any rebellion against cruelty endured in childhood and who are now asking the adult to finally stop denying the truth. I wish you success in your endeaver and hope that you can forget the psychoanalytic theories which would only conceal your view of the reality of your patients’ childhood reality.