Alternative Health Care: Mind-body Medicine

By: TJ Denton

Mind-body medicine deals with the connection of mind, brain, body and human behavior and the intense ways that mental, emotional, spiritual and even social and behavioral characteristics directly influences a person’s health. This mind-body medicine approach says that it bases its definition as an approach on the premise of the person gaining their own knowledge and own self care.

Mind-body medicine believes in a mediation-type plan that seeks to promote health in a therapy of relaxation, hypnosis, meditation, yoga, tai chi, support in groups, along with visual imagery and spirituality. All or one of these therapies are utilized as the practitioners believe in the idea that sickness/illness is a chance to grow personally and transform themselves with the assistance of health care professionals as guides.

The area of mind-body medicine is the major area of the overall utilization of complimentary and alternative medicines that are used by the general public. In 2002, five relaxation techniques plus biofeedback, hypnosis and visual imagery were used by more than 30 percent of the population of the U.S. above 21 years of age. In addition, prayer is being utilized by more than 50 percent of this population.

The entire notion that the mind is foremost in the treatment of sickness/illness is a foundation to the approaches of healing in traditional Chinese medicine going back more than 2,000 years.

Hippocrates always believed in the spiritual and moral ideas of healing and with it, the belief that a person’s attitude and environment, alongside natural remedies were the “natural” approach.

Mind-body medicine has given much evidence in the last 20 years that a person’s psychological makeup plays an ever-important role in the growth and natural progression of coronary artery illnesses. Plus the emergence of findings that the use of mind-body medicine can be of great help in the treatment of these coronary artery issues which enhances traditional cardiac care and rehab processes points in the direction of self knowledge, thus self care.

Mind-body techniques have been utilized for many areas of pain treatment. Clinical trials have shown that the techniques of mind-body medicine can be quite effective in relieving arthritis, resulting in lowering of pain for up to four years, and as an added benefit affording the patient with a lot less visits to their doctor, essentially lowering health care costs.

When mind-body medicine techniques are utilized for general and chronic pain, back pain and headaches there is evidence of an effect but, note that the results do vary with the type of mind-body medicine involved along with the varying aspects of the population of patients, hence environment and personal belief systems in force in these patients.

There is growing evidence too, that a person’s own emotional behaviors, both negative and positive can have a lot to do with that person’s sensitivity to infection. Of course meditation has long been believed to have a positive influence on one’s ability to “control” the physiological activities ie.colds, infections and overall health well being. The differences in different people and their own wound-healing abilities have also been believed in for some time. Observations have lent credence to the idea that a person’s negative mood or their level of stress greatly influences wound healing.

The areas of mind-body medicine have great potential. Maybe mainly due to the low risks involved with M-B medicine, be them emotional or physical.

These techniques are taught quite easily also. And of course as with any other field, discovery of other aspects where the mind and body work in conjunction to afford a healthier life thus a happier life, are clearly in the future.

Before and even while this learning curve takes place, the evidence that mind-body interventions most definitely have a positive effect on the psychological workings of a person hold great promise.

Mind-body medicine believes in a mediation-type plan that seeks to promote health in a therapy of relaxation, hypnosis, meditation, yoga, tai chi, support in groups, along with visual imagery and spirituality.

Ted Denton is the creator of a website that deals with issues of alternative health care and provides great articles in those areas along with tools for treating many health problems that are out of the mainstream of conventional treatments. Take a look at alternative health answers today.