Doctor Credits Her Successful 17 Year Marriage to Science of the Mind

Although many Americans still have a firm belief in marriage and “living happily ever after,” the fact that 50% of marriages end in divorce and that violence is the reason stated for divorce in 22% of middle-class marriages shows just how often this dream goes wrong.

And it is not only occurring in young couples--there is a growing legion of Americans confronting the trauma and challenges of divorce after a marriage of long duration finally falls apart.

No firm statistics are available, but experts say there is no doubt that breakups among couples married for over 25 years are becoming more common, although they're still less likely than divorce among younger couples.

Do Americans support the ease of divorce? No, says the General Social Survey (GSS). For the past 30 years, most Americans have steadfastly told the GSS that they want divorce laws to be made "more difficult," a Washington Times review has found.

When we have such a strong belief in marriage and the hope of a happy relationship, what is it that makes them go wrong? Love is certainly an emotion of the heart, but one Doctor says that it may well be also affected by what’s in your mind.

Dr. Vikki Petersen, clinical director of HealthNOW Medical Clinic in Sunnyvale, who specializes in treating patients suffering from stress, shares her story and what she credits to having a long, successful marriage.

When she met the love of her life, and he wanted to marry her, Petersen knew she should be thrilled. She loved him dearly; she wanted to marry him and yet every time he spoke about marriage and commitment she felt as if she had to leave. She would always begin to feel stressed and unhappy.

Her love persisted and continued to say that they should get married and that he wanted her to make the commitment too. Although Vikki wanted to be happy, she later found that reason why, unbeknownst to her, thinking of this commitment only made her want to leave.

“Why do I feel like this?” she remembers asking herself. It did not make any sense to her. It got worse—every time she heard the word commitment she felt ill. “When a word makes you physically ill, this is clearly not a rational response,” said Petersen.

“I loved him and I wanted to marry him,” she explained. “But I just couldn’t do it. I had a very strong reaction to the concept of commitment and I didn’t know why.” Looking for an answer to the mounting stress she was under, Dr. Petersen found the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard.

Vikki says this book explained why she was acting irrationally and why she felt she could not commit to the relationship. She found that Dianetics detailed what was holding her back in life and ruining her plans.

Dr. Petersen went on to describe that the book explains the single source to one’s problems, stress, unhappiness and self-doubt. It’s called the reactive mind—it’s the hidden part of your mind that stores all painful experiences and uses them against you. The techniques in the book explain how you can get rid of your reactive mind.

Using these techniques Dr. Petersen was able to find the incidents in her past that created this condition. “At last I knew why this was happening to me,” says Dr. Petersen. “While I was in the grip of my reactive mind I was not able to think rationally. This made it impossible to go forward and marry this man, even though I knew I loved him and I wanted to marry him.”

She started using the Dianetics techniques in April 1986 and found the source of this compulsion that was barring her road to a great relationship. By November of that year they were married. They have been happily married for 17 years now and have three lovely children.

To ensure that no more irrational responses derailed their marriage, both partners have used the techniques in Dianetics. Dr. Petersen often finds that the kind of relationship issues she earlier faced are the trigger for stress in her patients.

“So often it is a relationship issue that is causing the stress,” says Petersen. “When you clear away all the negative mental responses, you can have a happy relationship with your family based on love, trust and admiration of each other.”

For more information on the book Dianetics, visit www.dianetics.com