“In a deeper sense, illness offers the person a real chance to work out

Alexander Lowen, "The Energy of Bioenergetics"

his neurotic attitudes and find a healthier way to live. The breakdown into illness stops the neurotic struggle which has exhausted the person's energy and may allow, in the phase of convalescence, a rebuilding of energy reserves. From this point of view all illness can be seen as the body's attempt to get well. Everything depends on whether the person can understand and go along with his body's feelings rather than fighting to control them.”

Lowen, The Voice of the Body (2005), p.33.