The Light at the End of the Tunnel

A couple of weeks ago, Michael J. Fox's television special, Adventures of an Incurable Optimist aired on ABC. I've always loved his acting and the film Doc Hollywood is a favorite of mine. As you know, Michael has Parkinson's Disease and it is evident in the involuntary movements he makes little effort to hide. What is striking is his refusal to allow his disease to determine the course of his life. As far as he's concerned, Parkinson's is something with which he has to cope but it's not him.

I've worked with patients who almost seem emotionally attached to whatever condition they have. It becomes their focus, part of their identity. This is certainly not the case with Michael. It would be fair to ask, is he in denial? Is he simply avoiding reality? I don't think so. I think his attitude is one of the best examples of radical acceptance I've ever seen.

Radical acceptance is a term used in Dialectical Behavior Therapy to describe an active, conscious acceptance of what is. The difference between radical acceptance and a more passive surrender to fate can be described like this: Two persons are standing in a tunnel and the light at the end really is an oncoming train. There is no escape, no way out. One turns, crouches down, and covers his head and waits for the inevitable. The other, a practitioner of radical acceptance, stands facing the train and shouts, "Come on, I'm ready for you, give me all you've got!"

Barring a cure or at least a much more effective treatment derived from stem-cell research, Michael's condition will worsen over time. Parkinson's is characterized as an unrelenting, progressive disease. The train is coming and Michael refuses to abandon hope, throw up his hands and say, "What the use?"

What difference does radical acceptance make, one might ask, since he may very well be run down by the "train" anyway? Maybe not much until, like Michael, you're standing in the tunnel. And then it makes all the difference in the world.