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to Menu PageThe mind-body interventions described in this chapter are part of a neglected dimension in health care. They offer what people are hungry for--a medicine that addresses more than the body. In addition to preventing or curing illnesses, these therapies by and large provide people with the chance to be involved in their own care, to make vital decisions about their own health, to be touched at deep emotional levels, and to be changed psychologically in the process.
There is nothing inherent in many alternative medical therapies that necessarily sets them apart from the way contemporary drugs and surgery are used. Because they are, after all, things, it is possible to use diets, herbs, homeopathic remedies, and most other alternative treatments with the same impersonal, remote objectivity that prompts people today to say, "My doctor doesn't care about me!" It is possible to convert any alternative technique into the "new penicillin" or the "latest surgery"--something given or done to a body without regard for the person involved. The mind-body approach outlined here is potentially a corrective to ~this tendency, a reminder of the importance of human connection and the power of patients acting on their own behalf.
But caring and compassion are not enough, and "putting the patient back into health care" is not sufficient. Alternative therapies, including the mind-body approaches that have been described, must be proved to work, must be safe, and must be cost-effective. While more work needs to be done, evidence also is already substantial that many of these mind-body therapies, if appropriately selected and wisely applied, meet these demands.