Before the advent of the pharmaceutical empire, with its vast offerings of new fixes for our physical failings, physicians were consummate healers. Voltaire described our role as that of the amuser, to keep the patient amused long enough so that nature could do her healing work. Sir William Osler, considered one of Western allopathic medicine's founding fathers, maintained that it was more important to know the patient that had the disease, than to know what kind of disease the patient had.
However, Western allopathic medicine is not in the business of healing. Rather, it is a disease care system. By its very nature, our Western allopathic medical model makes people sick and keeps them sick. Indeed, its approach to chronic illness cures no one of anything. Pharmaceuticals merely suppress symptoms, interfering with the true and natural healing mechanism of the human organism. Skeptics and those who espouse our dominant biomedical paradigm, relegate inexplicable cures to the realms of placebo or perhaps an initial incorrect diagnosis. In fact, they are ignoring that most powerful mediator of healing: the mind, intention, consciousness.
All these ancient concepts, once lost, are now seeking resurgence with the advent of unhappy patients and truth-seeking scientists. These scientists are the pharmacologists, experimental toxicologists and immunologists doing low-dose research to support the veracity of the homeopathic phenomenon. They are the physicists and engineers mentioned earlier. They are the parapsychologists and psychoneuroimmunologists, lending credence to the concept of mind affecting matter and mind affecting body. They are the open-minded physicians and other researchers conducting research on the power of prayer and on the healer phenomenon.
Some examples of how our minds can affect our health include the following: positive thinking lowered blood sugar levels in diabetics, lessened asthma attacks, reduced colitis symptoms and improved immune function in HIV-infected individuals [1,2]. Not only can our thoughts affect our bodies, but also our thoughts can affect others. Numerous studies have demonstrated the clinical efficacy of prayer, most notably the positive effect of prayer on patients in a coronary care unit [3].
In addition to this concept of the inherent connectedness of mind and body, as suggested by both ancient wisdom and modern science, is the existence of some ineffable source-entity, energy, connectedness—which embraces all and affects us all. Healing traditions around the globe draw on this source as a conduit to healing.
While we may delight in acknowledging this ancient wisdom, and be encouraged that the ever-growing field of complementary and alternative medicine has lent support to the idea of mind-body medicine, we are still missing the link. Until we can realize that the mind is more powerful than molecules, than pharmaceuticals, and that we can apply this concept to actually heal our own bodies, we are not realizing the full potential that lies within each of us.
In Parts 3 and 4, techniques for harnessing the powers of our minds, for healing ourselves and even impacting situations and circumstances in our lives will be discussed.
References
1. Talbot, M. The Placebo Prescription. The New York Times Magazine; January 9,
2000: http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000109mag-talbot7.html.
2. Antoni, M.H. Psychosocial stressors and behavioral interactions in gay men with HIV
infection. Int. Rev Psychiatry: 1991;3:383-399.
3. Astin, J.A., Harkness E., Ernst E. The efficacy of "distant healing": a systematic
review of randomized trials. Ann Intern Med 2000;132:903-909.
Dr. Muehsam is a holistic physician practicing in New York City.
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