Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

A Challenge to Science

2010-07-01

“The old gods are dead or dying and people everywhere are searching, asking: What is the new mythology to be, the mythology of this unified earth as one harmonious being?”—Joseph Campbell, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space“A radical new view of human nature has been slowly emerging and gaining momentum, with revolutionary implications for the way we understand and organize our economic, social and environmental relations in the centuries to come. We have discovered Homo empathicus.”—Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization(p43)

Have We Forgotten What Healthcare Reform Was All About?

Larry Dossey — 2010-07-01

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the largest piece of progressive domestic legislation to become law in 45 years since Medicare. The political debate that preceded and followed the bill's passage has been the most vitriolic in memory. Not a single Republican senator voted for what they pejoratively labeled as “Obamacare.” John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, called the legislation “Armageddon,” a term usually reserved to describe the end of the world, and predicted that the bill will “ruin our country.” His prediction resonated with other overheated cynical language, such as “death panels” and “pulling the plug on grandma.”

Statement on Female Genital Mutilation From the Staff of Explore

2010-07-01

An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM), according to the World Health Organization. Sometimes called female circumcision, FGM includes procedures that intentionally alter, injure, or partially or totally remove the external female genitalia for nonmedical reasons. These procedures include but are not limited to clitorectomy, partial or total excision of the labia, and infibulation. They are usually carried out on girls between infancy and age 15 years. They confer no health benefits but can cause severe bleeding, infection, death, anxiety, fear, pain, urinary problems, and later, childbirth complications. Although FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, it persists widely in many African, Middle Eastern, and Asian cultures.

Health Care Reform Bill Contains Opportunities for Integrative Medicine

Bonnie Horrigan — 2010-07-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590), which was signed into law (No. 111-148) in April 2010, provides many opportunities for the integrative medicine community. Perhaps most important is that the new law specifies the creation of a national prevention strategy and provides $15 billion dollars in funding for a public health and prevention fund. The Act also contains other “calls to action” that address prevention and wellness, patient-centered care, and the management of chronic disease, all areas in which integrative medicine can make a significant contribution.

Trends That Will Affect Your Future... Where Can I Find a Family Doctor? An Unintended Consequence of Health Reform

Stephan A. Schwartz — 2010-07-01

The SchwartzReport tracks emerging trends that will affect the world, particularly the United States. For EXPLORE, it focuses on matters of health in the broadest sense of that term, including medical issues, changes in the biosphere, technology, and policy considerations, all of which will shape our culture and our lives.

Nonlocality and Exceptional Experiences: A Study of Genius, Religious Epiphany, and the Psychic

Stephan A. Schwartz — 2010-07-01

Two hundred years of reductive materialism has failed to explain the extraordinary experiences we know as moments of genius, religious epiphany, and psychic insight. This paper proposes that these three experiences are in essence the same experience, differentiated only by intention and context. It reaches this conclusion based on well-conducted experimental research across the continuum of science—work that proposes a new interdependent model of consciousness that takes into consideration a nonlocal linkage or entanglement, as an aspect of consciousness not limited by space and time. The paper surveys some of the most important relevant research from quantum biology, physics, psychology, medicine, anthropology, and parapsychology. It proposes that more attention should be paid to the autobiographies, correspondence, and journals of men and women to whom history unequivocally accords the designation of genius, saint, or psychic, offering examples from these sources. And it presents comparisons between ethnohistorical material and spiritual traditions, suggesting they arrive at a similar worldview. Finally, it proposes that meditation research, some examples of which are cited, be seen in the context of psychophysical self-regulation, and that it offers one powerful avenue for producing these exceptional experiences.

Adaptive Coping Strategies and Attitudes Toward Health and Healing in German Homeopathy and Acupuncture Users

Arndt Büssing, Thomas Ostermann, Christa Raak, Peter F. Matthiessen — 2010-07-01

Context: Although acupuncture and homeopathy both have a theoretical background that refers to immaterial forces difficult to verify, they are nevertheless used and accepted as effective treatments by many individuals.Objective: We intended to investigate whether and how users of acupuncture and homeopathy differ with respect to sociodemographic data, adaptive coping strategies, and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).Design and Patients: In an anonymous questionnaire survey among 5,830 elderly German health insurants, we identified individuals who used CAM within the last five years.Results: Acupuncture was used by 10% of the population, homeopathy by 7%, and both by 5%. More men than women used acupuncture, whereas homeopathy was used equally by women and men. Acupuncture users had a reduced physical health status compared to homeopathy users. In most cases, it was not a disappointment with conventional medicine that accounted for CAM usage. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that the best predictors of acupuncture and homeopathy usage were the conviction that CAM is more profound and expends more time, fear of the side effects of conventional medicine, and high scores in the measure of search for information and alternative help. Negative predictors were physical health, male gender, age, and trust in a scientific rationale of treatments.Conclusion: We found that usage of distinct CAM approaches might depend on particular psychosocial profiles, attitudes, and convictions. In contrast to homeopathy users, acupuncture users seemed to be much more pragmatic and referred more often to an expected scientific background of chosen treatment. Our findings fill a gap of knowledge that needs further attention.

Statistical Reanalysis of a Randomized Trial of Acupuncture for Pain Reveals Positive Effects As Well As Adverse Treatment Interactions on Pain, Attrition, and Mortality

Samuel C. Shiflett, Gary E. Schwartz — 2010-07-01

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine, using analysis of covariance, whether a statistical reanalysis of a previously published study on neuropathic pain would reveal undetected significant effects of acupuncture and amitriptyline on pain, attrition, and mortality in HIV-infected patients.Background: Shlay et al published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (1988) reporting that neither acupuncture nor amitriptyline had effects on pain in HIV-infected patients. However, they failed to perform a factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) or covariance (ANCOVA) reflective of their core research design. Instead, research design problems necessitated the use of a relatively insensitive statistic.Methods: The originally planned study employed a completely crossed 2 × 2 design involving acupuncture and amitriptyline and their controls. Reanalyses performed on the raw data involved ANCOVA and Pearson chi-square tests.Subjects and Setting: The factorial option consisted of 125 HIV-infected men with peripheral neuropathic pain, being treated at health clinics in 10 different cities.Outcome Measures: Outcome measures were pain intensity, global pain relief, attrition, and mortality.Results: In contrast to the originally reported findings, the interactions of amitriptyline and acupuncture over time on pain intensity and pain relief were statistically significant. There were also significant effects for acupuncture and amitriptyline on attrition and mortality, particularly when baseline health was poor. Acupuncture by itself was associated with greater pain relief, whereas the combination of acupuncture and amitriptyline was associated with a reduced level of pain relief. Acupuncture without amitriptyline was associated with substantially reduced attrition and, importantly, decreased mortality. Effects involving acupuncture tended to be magnified in patients in poor health. The combination of acupuncture and amitriptyline resulted in an adverse treatment interaction on mortality, especially in patients in poor health (53% death rate for the combination of acupuncture and amitriptyline vs 11% death rate for acupuncture only).Conclusions: Trials of acupuncture and other treatments should use efficient statistical techniques to assure detection of significant effects. Interactions involving various combinations of acupuncture and amitriptyline, which were undetectable in the original analytical approach, revealed previously undetected beneficial, as well as adverse, effects.

An Empirical Test of the Theory of Morphic Resonance by Using Recognition for Chinese Symbols

Kimberly Robbins, Chris A. Roe — 2010-07-01

Tests of the theory of morphic resonance have tended to confirm the theory's predictions but are difficult to evaluate since they are typically reported in popular accounts rather than more detailed peer-reviewed journal papers. We replicated earlier work using word-based stimuli in a study that also looked at the effects of transliminality on performance. Sixty participants were exposed to five genuine Chinese characters and five false characters. Subsequently, participants identified the characters they could recognize among a sheet consisting of those originally presented intermixed with 10 decoys. As predicted, participants accurately recognized more of the genuine than false characters, t(59)= 2.40, P = .020, but also were more likely to report false memories for genuine than false characters, t(59)= 3.805, P < .001. Transliminality scores were related to performance with presented characters (r = .38; P = .003) but not with decoy characters (r = .14, P = .28).

Dreams As a Multidimensional Expression of PSI

Rita Dwyer, Robert L. Van de Castle, Bobbie Ann Pimm — 2010-07-01

The Association for the Study of Dreams was organized to promote scientific research into the study of dreams and to provide an educational forum for the interdisciplinary exchange of information among the scientific and professional community and the general public. Further information can be found at http://www.asdreams.org. Its initial two-day meeting was held in San Francisco, California, in 1984. The organization has met annually at many sites around the world and was renamed the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) at the Copenhagen Conference in 2004.

Kaiser Permanente's Total Health Environment

Sita Ananth — 2010-07-01

I remember when Kaiser Permanente launched its Thrive campaign on television in 2004. As a long time California resident but somewhat shorter-term Kaiser Permanente member, it struck me that this behemoth of an organization, established by Henry Kaiser in 1945 to care for the workers in his shipyards and steel mills, was now touting in its advertisements that they stood for Pilates, broccoli, dental floss, and treadmills. Long known for its low-cost, dependable care for millions of Californians and others; its nonprofit status; and its commitment to community health, they took a bold stand in saying that health was not an industry but a cause. So what did all this mean to us, the members of Kaiser Permanente? I called my local Kaiser Permanente hospital and asked if I could come to a Pilates class or if there was a treadmill I could use. Unfortunately there wasn't. So what was Thrive and why was it launched?

AHNA: Providing Transformative Innovations in Holistic Nursing Praxis

2010-07-01

Content on integrative healthcare and complementary and alternative medicine is being taught in hundreds of educational programs across the country. Nursing, medical, osteopathic, chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathic, and other programs are finding creative and innovative ways to include these approaches in new models of education and practice. This column spotlights such innovations in integrative healthcare and CAM education and presents readers with specific educational interventions they can adapt into new or ongoing educational efforts at their institution or programs.We invite readers to submit brief descriptions of efforts in their institutions that reflect the creativity, diversity, and interdisciplinary nature of the field. Please submit to Dr Sierpina at vssierpi@utmb.edu or Dr Kreitzer at kreit003@umn.edu. Submissions should be no more than 500 to1,500 words. Please include any Web site or other resource that is relevant, as well as contact information.

Editorial Board

2010-07-01

Masthead

2010-07-01

Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

A Challenge to Science

Have We Forgotten What Healthcare Reform Was All About?

Statement on Female Genital Mutilation From the Staff of Explore

Health Care Reform Bill Contains Opportunities for Integrative Medicine

Trends That Will Affect Your Future... Where Can I Find a Family Doctor? An Unintended Consequence of Health Reform

Nonlocality and Exceptional Experiences: A Study of Genius, Religious Epiphany, and the Psychic

Adaptive Coping Strategies and Attitudes Toward Health and Healing in German Homeopathy and Acupuncture Users

Statistical Reanalysis of a Randomized Trial of Acupuncture for Pain Reveals Positive Effects As Well As Adverse Treatment Interactions on Pain, Attrition, and Mortality

An Empirical Test of the Theory of Morphic Resonance by Using Recognition for Chinese Symbols

Dreams As a Multidimensional Expression of PSI

Kaiser Permanente's Total Health Environment

AHNA: Providing Transformative Innovations in Holistic Nursing Praxis

Editorial Board

Masthead

Contents