September 2001, Volume 1, No. 1
NEW BEGININGS
Art is Healing, Healing is Art
Editor's MusingsEditor's Musings
Daniel J. Benor, MD - IJHC Editor
The IJHC is a reader-friendly forum for exploring issues of whole-person care.. Perspectives of caregivers and of the recipients of treatments will be shared, in the context of conventional and complementary/ alternative therapies that are moving towards integrative care.
Healee's PerspectivesHis Father's Pain: A Personal Narrative
Peter Clothier
All his life Peter had carried the pain about with him. Sometimes intense. sometimes no more than a dull ache. Sometimes for months at a time he was hardly aware of it, but it was always there. He knew that. It had a precise location, always the same, a spot below the ribs, an inch inside, four fingers frhom the point where his lower ribs met. He could put his fingers in there, feel it.
ResearchPrayer and Spiritual Healing in Medical Settings: A Research Review
David Aldridge, PhD
Abstract
Prayer and spiritual healing have been researched over the last forty years. Spiritual awareness, a neglected aspect of much of this research, is finding its way into clinical practice in treatment of a variety of problems. It is a challenge to use spiritual healing in a wholistic and ethical manner.
Flower Essence Therapy in the Treatment of Major Depression: Preliminary Findings
Jeffery R. Cram, PhD
Abstract
This preliminary study examines the adjunctive use of flower essence therapy in the treatment of mild to moderate major depression. Flower essence therapy is similar to homeopathy in that it involves the ingesting of a substance which is physically dilute, but energetically active. Flower essences were prepared from a solar infusion of the fresh blossoms of plants.
Twelve patients from 4 clinics around the United States were offered one month of "usual care," followed by three months of usual care plus flower essence therapy. Usual care for 11 of the 12 patients entailed psychotherapy, while 1 patient was offered nutritional support and counseling. The flower essence therapy was individualized and 60 different essences were used, with a mean of 8 flower essences given to a patient.
The results of this study were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Hamilton Depressions Scale (HAMD). A time series analysis of the data was conducted using an ANOVA for repeated measures. The first month of usual care showed the BDI and HAMD to be unchanged. Flower essence therapy produced significant reductions of approximately 50% in both indices.
The results strongly suggest that flower essences may be used adjunctively to facilitate the resolution of mild to moderate depression.
Healing ApproachesAwakening the Healer Within - Empowering Spiritual Healing
Elizabeth K. Stratton, MS
Abstract
Spiritual healing in the past twenty-five years has evolved from a model in which healers could heal with the instantaneous power of their touch, to a model in which healers facilitate the awakening of a person’s inner healer. This shift in the awareness and practice of spiritual healing can today be seen in almost all modalities of energy healing, from a simple laying-on-of-hands to Reiki, bodywork, acupuncture, meditation and guided imagery. It is a change in consciousness from a focus on the power of the healer to the empowerment of the inner healer that has revolutionized the interface between medicine and holistic health.
Emotional Body Process - Part 1 Healing Through Love
Daniel Benor, MD, Dorothea von Stumpfeldt, MD, and Ruth Benor, RN
Words are inadequate to convey the potency of love in healing old hurts and current fears. You cannot know a peach from "peach". You must see it and smell it and taste it. This article describes a potent guided self-healing technique focused on love, and shares the clinical experiences of the authors in using this method. It introduces a palpable experience of the transformative power of love.
Unusually potent methods for healing in psychotherapy were developed by Dr Dorothea von Stumpfeldt of Berlin and elaborated by the other authors of this paper. These methods, called EmotionalBodyProcess by their originator, introduce imagery of love, healing, forgiveness, and acceptance through which you can be guided to address your problems. Both physical and psychological problems may improve very rapidly with these methods.
Healing in Diverse CulturesAmerican Indian Healing
Kenneth S. Cohen, MA, MSTh
While visiting Iceland during the summer of 1994, I conducted two American Indian healing rituals that produced impressive results. The first part of this essay describes the spiritual landscape of Iceland, which I believe was an important influence on therapeutic outcome. The second part discusses the healing interventions, one for a patient with multiple sclerosis, the other for a patient with brain cancer. They are presented as anecdotal evidence of the efficacy, flexibility, and holistic approach of American Indian healing.
Healing in Norway
Else Egeland, RN
Healing has been part of traditional folk medicine here, as in all cultures. Healing has also been an important part of the Norwegian Sami culture. Both the medicine of the Sami people and Norwegian folk medicine in general suffered under pressure form the church and the medical profession for several hundred years, but has still survived up to our time. We estimate there are about 50 healers practicing healing full time (in a nation of only 4 million people, with lots of space for each of us), and several hundred healers working part time. Approximately 4 % of the population has visited a healer.
Wholistic ApproachesDoctoring as a Human Experience - On Developing a Healing Partnership: Patients' Experiences
Ronald S. Banner, M.D.
Over the last two years I have taken care of a wonderful man named Stanley. Sadly, Stanley became severely ill and his condition progressively deteriorated despite my best efforts to help in every way I could devise. Stanley jokingly said to me that he could write a book with all he has gone through. We both agreed that using some of his experiences would be helpful to other health carers. Through all his physical, emotional and spiritual pain, what shines through - clearer and larger and more beautiful - are his spirit, his soul and his heart.
Caring Moments in the Stress Lab
Jackie Greenleaf Schirn, RN
Working in the cardiac stress testing department of a mega-hospital complex is a little like working in a factory, except that instead of producing widgets, our "factory" produces completed cardiac stress tests. There is pressure from supervisors to get patients’ tests done quickly, so that more tests can be done. The department’s emphasis on efficiently running patients through the testing process is so dehumanizing that I feel a strong need to make a meaningful connection with each patient.
Observations on Midwives and Epidural Anesthesia During Labor and Delivery
Mara Merritt, third year medical student
Two days ago I completed my four week long obstetrics/ and gynecology core rotation. The month was filled with the unexpected in many ways. One of the surprises was my response to epidural (spinal) anesthesia injections that are given to reduce pain during labor and delivery.
My mother started training to be a lay midwife (now called certified professional midwives) in 1984, shortly after the birth of my youngest sister, (who was born at home). By the late 80's my mother was knee-deeply involved in the Association of Texas Midwives and spent many weeks in Austin for many years working on the regulation of the practice of midwifery in the state of Texas. Until last week I thought of epidurals as purely evil. (It is not that all midwives oppose epidurals, but my mother taught natural childbirth classes for a decade before entering midwifery, so I never heard a positive word regarding epidurals leave her mouth). The experience of midwives has been that epidurals slow labor down and are unnecessary when other approaches are taken to the birthing experience and pain.
Experiences of a Mother with Midwifery and Hospital Obstetrics
Anne Flaherty
I have been there: both with epidural and without, and I can say that each was right for me at the time.
Here we face the age old problem of not imposing one's own values on others. But especially in terms of the patient/doctor relationship because there is definitely a power imbalance there, how to not take advantage of that in oppressive and imposing ways.
I'd like to think that a doctor's role is to empower her patient to take control of her own health. If you learn how to empower another person then you will have less chance of abusing the power imbalance.
Wholistic News ReviewsWholistic News Reviews: Traditional, Complementary, Alternative, and Psycho-social Modalities of Treatment
Larry Lachman, PsyD
Normal Pap Smear Result Requires Explanation
Commandments for Working With Terminally Ill Patients
Balancing Control: Coping Styles for Patients with Breast Cancer
A Caring Attitude Can Ease The Burden of Bad News
Depression and Hopelessness Predict Desire of Early Death for Terminally Ill
Complementary and Alternative Therapies With Cancer
Healing with FoodThe Uses of Food as Medicine
Annemarie Colbin, CHES
In Western biomedicine, nutritional therapies have been proven cost-effective modes of treatment in such well-researched conditions as hypercholesterolemia (McGehee 1995) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (Franz et al 1995). While patients are receptive to dietary advice from their doctors, that advice is seldom forthcoming in any great detail, as many physicians have minimal training in the biochemistry of nutrition (Alternative Medicine), and are not familiar with the many therapeutic dietary systems approaches available. In addition, physicians often perceive that there is resistance to dietary changes among their patients, a perception which may keep them from prescribing these therapies more often (Soltesz 1994). However, the resistance may be a function of how the information is presented: As Trudeau and Dube have shown, effective nutritional counseling enhances compliance with therapeutic diets (Soltesz et al 1994; Trudeau and Dube 1995).
Healing Through the Creative Arts Art is Healing, Healing is Art: a Collaborative Vision
Christiane Corbat with BetheAnne DeLuca-Verley, MD
My fascination with healing dates back to my high school years when a dear friend suffered third degree burns over 75 percent of his body. I watched his recuperation with the emergency life-saving treatments, the skin grafting, the physical rehabilitation, and the agony his spirit went through. These opened my eyes to a process that I could only assume was sustained by some inner resource that actively sought out healing. As his body responded to the excellent medical care he was given, he guided his responses towards healing. He played an active role in his own recuperation.
What was his guiding inner sense? As I had explored art as my life's calling, I sought answers to this question in anthropology and psychology, traditional cultures and spiritual practices to understand what was going on.
Poetry On Rounds: A Model for the Integration of Humanities into Residency Training
Harold W. Horowitz
In medical training, humanity takes second place to scientific achievement. The realization that we are producing a generation of less than humane doctors has begun to trouble both medical educators and clinicians. Might the study of the humanities, especially the reading of literature, in medical training help doctors to be more humane? Some proponents certainly think so (American Board of Internal Medicine; Association of American Medical Colleges; Baker; Barnard; Charon et al; McManus; Risse;), and the multifaceted contributions of literature to clinical practice have been recently reviewed (Association of American Medical Colleges). Although the study of humanities in medical school curricula is one way to encourage humanistic qualities in the practice of medicine (Association of American Medical Colleges; Almy et al), less attention has been paid to models for teaching humanistic qualities in residency training (Arnold et al; Barnard). Lack of time, of leader expertise, and of residentsâ interest have been cited as barriers to the study of liberal sits in residency training programmes (Povar and Keith). Furthermore, few robust models have been proposed for the integration of such training into residency programmes.
HumorHumor
Daniel J. Benor, MD
Book Reviews
Paul Pearsall. The Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy: The New Findings About Cellular Memories and Their Role in the Mind/Body/Spirit Connection
Marc Ian Barasch. Healing Dreams: Exploring the Dreams That Can Transform Your Life
Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, and Vince Rause. Why God Won't go Away: Brain Science and the biology of Belief
Julie Ann Brock. A Model of Psychotherapy Based on the Soul and Spirituality: A Bridge Between Psychology and Religion
P.M.H. Atwater, LhD. Children of the New Millenium: Children's Near-Death Experiences and the Evolution of Humankind
Roger J. Callahan, Ph.D. with Richard Trubo. Tapping the Healer Within: Using Thought Field Therapy to Instantly Conquer Your Fears, Anxieties, and Emotional Distress
Shel Silverstein. A Light in the Attic
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