RELAXATION TRAINING FOR WAYWARD NERVES: CREATIVE VISUALIZATION – IMAGES WHICH QUIETEN THE MINDThese images which follow are only suggestions; if they don’t work for you, make up your own scene where there is cheerful noise and movement which becomes more and more tranquil. Here are some examples:• Imagine a tree filled with song birds. The birds fly away from the top branches, then the next branches, and so on until there is just one bird left. Concentrate on this bird until it flies off, then look at the branch it was sitting on and focus on just one lovely pale green leaf.• Think of a fairground, full of laughter and music; it is closing down for the night. The people go home, the lights go out, and all becomes quiet.• Imagine a playground of noisy, tumbling children. It’s supper time; they gradually go home. Watch as the last child goes off with his mother; see how sleepy he looks.If you have trouble stilling your mind with images, try concentrating on the feeling in your nostrils as your breath enters and leaves, or simply by repeatedly counting to ten.*109\326\8*

A. There are several different forms of treatment currently available. Several are effective, some more than others. There is one important point which doctors know, but patients are apt to overlook, or probably do not know.

A peptic ulcer is an ongoing process. Once it has developed, it will certainly be stopped with adequate treatment. But once therapy has stopped, the same conditions as prevailed before treatment will again occur, and the chances of a recurrence are very high. In fact, most peptic ulcers, on cessation of treatment, will recur. With high levels of acid and pepsin in the stomach and duodenum, the wall lining inevitably suffers, and more ulcers are more or less inevitable. Not everybody will redevelop ulcers, but a significant number will, and this must be borne in mind at all times.

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