Studies and Progress Notes (January 2007)

* *  SPIRITUAL AWARENESS AND WHOLISTIC HEALING * *  

Study suggests that love is all in your head

Abstract: “Early-stage romantic love can induce euphoria, is a cross-cultural phenomenon, and is possibly a developed form of a mammalian drive to pursue preferred mates. It has an important influence on social behaviors that have reproductive and genetic consequences. To determine which reward and motivation systems may be involved, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and studied 10 women and 7 men who were intensely "in love" from 1-17 months. Participants alternately viewed a photograph of their beloved and a photograph of a familiar individual, interspersed with a distraction-attention task. Group activation specific to the beloved under the two control conditions occurred in dopamine-rich areas associated with mammalian reward and motivation… The results suggest that romantic love uses subcortical reward and motivation systems to focus on a specific individual, that limbic cortical regions process individual emotion factors, and that there is localization heterogeneity for reward functions in the human brain.”
Source: Arthur Aron et al. Reward, Motivation and Emotion Systems Associated with Early-Stage Intense Romantic Love, . J Neurophysiol (May 31, 2005). doi:10.1152/jn.00838.2004
http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/00838.2004v1

Monika Rice writes, in a Spirituality & Health interview with one of the authors of the paper, Lucy L. Brown, “The picture of the sweetheart activated primitive reward-motivation regions in the brain. According to Brown, this primitive reward system, shared by many animals, also motivates us to fulfill our survival needs such as finding food and water. It suggests, Brown says, that the intoxication of falling in love is not an emotion but a reward produced by an unconscious brain system. ‘The person we're in love with is a goal that we must have in the same way we must have food or water,’ and for that, says Brown, ‘you will do quite irrational things, or inventive things.’ “
Source: http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/NMagazine/
articles.php?id=1550
 

IJHC – WHR Observations


This study suggests that the eros type of love is a need, not an emotion. I would suggest that this isn’t an either/ or situation, but rather a both/ and. While love may have a neurophysiological component, it also has emotional and bioenergetic components. Much of the language of love is defined in terms related to the heart. This is where many feel their emotions of love are centered. I believe we relate from the heart as well as from the head. (More on this in my editorial in IJHC, September 2006.)

The perception of healers is that love is a powerful force for healing. This is the agape variety of love – the selfless, unconditional love that creates, nurtures and promotes positivity and healing. The English healing language suffers from the lack of common words for this type of love, and from the confusion generated by the use of the same word for two very different types of human responses to the world.

 * *  FUTURE RESEARCH IN WHOLISTIC HEALING * * 

The IJHC/WHR E-Zine features monthly suggestions for future research in healing.
READERS ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS FOR TOPICS TO STUDY
If your topic is chosen, you ill receive free access to the IJHC for a month, including the current issue and all back issues.

The capacity to experience and identify agape-type love

The unconditional acceptance of agape-type love is a component often mentioned in spiritual awareness, as in Near-Death Experiences, angelic encounters, and mystical experiences. It would be of interest to know how commonly this level of love is experienced in the general population. A survey of this sort would also be educational to the participants and the public – in acknowledging the differences between eros and agape.


 * *  WHOLISTIC APPROACHES * * 

 Not using Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) may reduce risk of breast cancer

“University of Texas researchers recorded a 7% drop in new breast cancer cases in the US in 2003.
    They told a US cancer conference the fall could be linked to the fact that millions of women gave up HRT following reports questioning its safety.”
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6182445.stm 
See also: Marcia L. Stefanick, et al. Effects of Conjugated Equine Estrogens on Breast Cancer and Mammography Screening in Postmenopausal Women With Hysterectomy, JAMA. 2006;295:1647-1657.


IJHC – WHR Observations


Evidence suggests that estrogen alone does not increase breast cancer risk, while combined estrogen and progestrerone does increase risk.
    Here is another example of a healthy decision being to not take a medicine that was widely recommended just a few years ago. Many people are now relying on their own intuition in these matters. This is, however, a double-edged sword, because intuition can also err. The best way forward may be to have intuitive assessments from multiple sources, combined with considered medical wisdom.


 * *  COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES * * 

Three common medicinal herbs shown to stimulate production of immune cells

Echinacea, Astragalus and Glycyrrhiza herbal tinctures enhance blood lymphocytes in a double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized clinical trial

Source: Julie Brush, Elissa Mendenhall, Alan Guggenheim, Tracy Chan, Erin Connelly, Richard Barrett, and Heather Zwickey, The Effect of Echinacea purpurea, Astragalus membranaceus, and Glycyrrhiza glabra Immune Cell Activation and Proliferation in Humans (Helfgott Research Institute, National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR)
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:
dGokU4Uhxv4J:www.naturopathic.org/
art15.doc+Echinacea,+Astragalus+and+
Glycyrrhiza&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=1


IJHC – WHR Observations


It is helpful to have research confirming effects of herbal remedies on the immune system, at a time when antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a challenge in medical care.


More CAM reviews at
www.naturalhealthvillage.com
www.mdlinx.com/FamilyMDLinx 
www.ucalgary.ca/~camig/litsearch.html
AMSA website
www.amsa.org/humed/camresources/camnews.cfm


* * TECHNOLOGY * *

2007 Digital Future Report

A section in this year's report examines on-line communities and social networking. Increasing numbers of internet users are forming virtual communities. Close to half of those participating in such groups in the US find them as important to them as real-world groups, with a reported average of 4.6 virtual pals developed in the past year.

Highlights of the report are available here:
www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/2007-Digital-Future-Report-
Press-Release-112906.pdf
The full report is available for purchase at:
http://store.digitalcenter.org

http://www.digitalcenter.org/pages/current_report.asp
?intGlobalId=19


IJHC-WHR Observations


The positive side of virtual pals is that one can specialized interest find kindred spirits from around the planet, where they might be rare or non-existent locally.

The negative side is that virtual relationships lack many of the dimensions of in-person relationships, including emotional nuancing, sharing a time and a meal together, touching, and allowing for many of the randomly wonderful human interactions that can occur when people spend time together. Non-personal interactions shade into impersonal ones – which may be strong informational/ head relationships but are devoid of heart-connections.
    Lacking experiences in heart-connections distances us (more than we already are by geography and lack of information about their conditions) and allows many to consider the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people as ‘collateral damage,’ and millions of Africans as tragedies that are devoid of any depth of feeling or caring on our part.


* *  ENVIRONMENT (HEALING OUR PLANET) * *

Australia is in its 5th year of severe drought and warmer weather

This is more serious than any previous drought since the late 1800s. Conservationists keep calling for action on global warming – as Australia is one of the non-signatory nations in the Kyoto treaty.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6204141.stm


IJHC – WHR Observations


See many lovely photos of Australian wildlife at the link below. The world will not be a very nurturing place if all we have left of such diversity and beauty is a virtual nature reality. This is called ‘British understatement!’ http://www.nccnsw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1465&Itemid=717


 * *  HUMAN ECOLOGY* * 

Abstinence vs contraception to prevent pregnancy in teens

Research shows a decline in adolescent pregnancy in the US 1995-2002 was correlated with contraception use rather than abstinence.

Source: John S. Santelli, et al. Research and Practice Explaining Recent Declines in Adolescent Pregnancy in the United States: The Contribution of Abstinence and Improved Contraceptive Use, American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2006.089169
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/AJPH.2006.089169v1?
maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1
&title=abstinence+pregnancy&andorexacttitle=and&
andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1
&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&fdate=10/1/2006&
resourcetype=HWCIT


IJHC – WHR Observations


The advocacy of the Bush administration for abstinence as the best approach to preventing teen pregnancy is not supported by research. Research evidence does not support abstinence as an effective form of contraception. Discouragement of contraceptive use is likely to be counter-productive in preventing pregnancies.