Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

The Self: On Becoming a Nobody

Larry Dossey — 2012-05-01

Why are you unhappy? Because nearly everything that you say and do is for your ‘self’—and there isn't one. Chinese Proverb For decades, the idea of the self has been the target of a demolition derby within science. A steady stream of books from materialistic scientists has made war on the sense of self—one's basic, essential sense of being, the object of one's introspection, that which makes me “me” and not someone else. Scientists these days seem to vie with one another as to who can do the most thorough job of trashing the whole idea.

Moral Insanity

John C. Rhead — 2012-05-01

I want to share some reactions to Larry Dossey's excellent editorial on moral insanity. (EXPLORE January 2012). I disagree with his conclusion that Josef Fritzl must have been aware that what he was doing was wrong. I would argue that he need only have been aware that it would be perceived that way by others who would have the power to stop him and perhaps punish him. He may even have thought that those others were morally inferior to him because of the way they he knew they would view his behavior.

Film Calls for a New Healthcare System

Bonnie J. Horrigan — 2012-05-01

ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time—how we can save our badly broken healthcare system. Produced by Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke, the film argues that the current battle over healthcare costs and access do not address the root of the problem: we have a disease-care system, not a healthcare system. The film asks why, when more than one-half of all illnesses can be prevented, aren't we doing more in the way of prevention?

The Vagina Battles and National Wellness

Stephan A. Schwartz — 2012-05-01

As I write this, I am witnessing something I would not have thought possible. The central discussion of the Republican primaries is not jobs, or war, or foreign affairs, or even the economy. It is contraception. Can it be possible that in the second decade of the 21st century we are debating once again whether contraception should be legal and available to all women? We can and we are.

Tibetan Medicine and Integrative Health: Validity Testing and Refinement of the Constitutional Self-Assessment Tool and Lifestyle Guidelines Tool

2012-05-01

Context: Tibetan medicine offers an ancient, timely model for the promotion of health and treatment of disease by teaching individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices. This holistic model consists of analyzing one's unique constitution and recommending supportive lifestyle modifications. An experienced Tibetan medicine practitioner is the gold standard for constitutional assessment. Because few Tibetans practice Tibetan medicine in the United States, research-based tools with content and criterion validity are needed for self-assessment. Objective: To test the validity of and refine the Constitutional Self-Assessment Tool (CSAT) and Lifestyle Guidelines Tool (LGT). Design: Mixed methods pilot study conducted in three phases. Setting: Tibetan Medical Institute (TMI) of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, India and the University of Minnesota, a U.S. research University. Participants: Six TMI senior faculty; 88 students at the university. Methods: Phase 1: TMI faculty evaluated the tools' content validity. Phase 2: 59 students completed the CSAT, had a Tibetan medicine consultation, completed the LGT, and answered qualitative questions. Phase 3: 29 students studying Tibetan medicine followed a modified phase 2 method. Quantitative and phenomenological analyses were performed to investigate the CSAT's criterion validity (agreement of CSAT results and consultations) and refine the tools. Results: The tools were shown to have high content validity. Phase 2 CSAT had 51% agreement and 0.24 kappa statistic, suggesting fair criterion validity. Phase 3–refined CSAT had 76% agreement and 0.50 kappa statistic, suggesting moderate criterion validity. Conclusion: The refined CSAT and LGT in demonstrate the potential for additional research and use in integrated care.

Religious Coping and Mental Health Outcomes: An Exploratory Study of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Patients

Michael M. Olson, Dorothy B. Trevino, Jenenne A. Geske, Harold Vanderpool — 2012-05-01

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the association between religious coping and mental health in a socioeconomically disadvantaged population. Methods: Participants were selected as they presented for mental healthcare at a community health center for patients with little, if any, financial resources or insurance. A total of 123 patients participated in this study. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify religious coping predictors for mental health outcomes. Results: Positive religious coping (PRC) was significantly associated with and predictive of better mental health (P < .01). Conversely, negative religious coping (NRC) was found to be significantly associated with poorer mental health scores (P = .031) with gender, income, and ethnicity controlled for in the model. The relationship between NRC and inferior mental health outcomes was more robust than the relationship between PRC and improved mental health scores. Conclusions: This study illustrates the important association between PRC and NRC and mental health outcomes among economically disadvantaged patients. Interpretation of these findings and clinical implications are offered.

Time, Touch, and Compassion: Effects on Autonomic Nervous System and Well-Being

Hossam A. Shaltout, Janet A. Tooze, Erica Rosenberger, Kathi J. Kemper — 2012-05-01

Objective: Compassion is critical for complementary and conventional care, but little is known about its direct physiologic effects. This study tested the feasibility of delivering two lengths of time (10 and 20 minutes) and two strategies (tactile and nontactile) for a practitioner to nonverbally communicate compassion to subjects who were blind to the interventions. Methods: Healthy volunteers were informed that we were testing the effects of time and touch on the autonomic nervous system. Each subject underwent five sequential study periods in one study session: (1) warm-up; (2) control—with the practitioner while both read neutral material; (3) rest; (4) intervention—with practitioner meditating on loving-kindness toward the subject; and (5) rest. Subjects were randomized to receive one of four interventions: (1) 10 minutes tactile; (2) 20 minutes tactile; (3) 10 minutes nontactile; or (4) 20 minutes nontactile. During all interventions, the practitioner meditated on loving-kindness toward the subject. For tactile interventions, the practitioner touched subjects on arms, legs, and hands; for nontactile interventions, the practitioner pretended to read. Subjects' autonomic activity, including heart rate, was measured continuously. Subjects completed visual analog scales for well-being, including relaxation and peacefulness, at warm-up; postcontrol; immediately postintervention; and after the postintervention rest and were asked about what they and the practitioner had done during each study period. Results: The 20 subjects' mean age was 24.3 ± 4 years; 16 were women. The practitioner maintained a meditative state during all interventions as reflected in lower respiratory rate, and subjects remained blind to the practitioner's meditative activity. Overall, interventions significantly decreased heart rate (P < .01), and although other changes did not reach statistical significance, they were in the expected direction, with generally greater effects for the tactile than nontactile strategies and for 20-minute than 10-minute doses. Conclusions: Two strategies are feasible for blinding subjects to nonverbal communication of compassion; even with blinding, nonverbal communication of compassion affects subjects' autonomic nervous system. These results should be replicated in larger samples, including patient populations, and mechanisms sought to explain observed effects. Compassion is not only good care; it may also be good medicine.

Emergence of a Signal from Background Noise in the “Memory of Water” Experiments: How to Explain It?

Francis Beauvais — 2012-05-01

After more than 20 years, the case of the “memory of water” still has not been resolved satisfactorily. After the affair with the journal Nature, Benveniste extended his results on high dilutions to an “electromagnetic biology” and then to a “digital biology,” where electromagnetic signals supposed to be emitted from biologically active solutions were said to be stored on magnetic memories. Although the results obtained by Benveniste and coworkers were obvious, the difficulties in reproducibility by other teams created doubt of the reality of the alleged phenomenon. In a first step, we analyzed a set of experiments obtained by Benveniste's team in the 1990s. We quantified the relationship between “expected” effects (ie, labels of the tested samples) and apparatus outcomes, and we defined the experimental conditions to observe significant correlations. We concluded that the results of these experiments were related to experimenter-dependent correlations, which did not support the initial “memory of water” hypothesis. The fact that a signal emerged from background noise, however, remained puzzling. Therefore, in a second step, we described Benveniste's experiments according to the relational interpretation of quantum physics of C. Rovelli. In this interpretation, the state of a system is observer-dependent and the collapse of the wave function appears only in the states relative to a given observer. This interpretation allowed us to elaborate a model describing Benveniste's experiments in which the emergence of a signal from background noise was described by the entanglement of the experimenter with the observed system. In conclusion, the pursuit of the experimental “proof” to support the “memory of water” hypothesis has prevented other interpretations. Although our hypothesis does not definitely dismiss the possibility of “memory of water,” the experimenter-dependent entanglement could be an attractive alternative interpretation of Benveniste's experiments.

Feasibility of a Brief Yoga Intervention During Chemotherapy for Persistent or Recurrent Ovarian Cancer

2012-05-01

Persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer is often accompanied by aversive symptoms that reduce quality of life and effective supportive care is needed. Yoga is a promising intervention for enhancing quality of life in cancer survivors. The gentle movements and behavioral components (ie, awareness, breathing practices) of yoga make it a uniquely suitable for improving both physical and mental health. The current study reports feasibility data from a study of a Yoga Skills Training (YST) during chemotherapy for women diagnosed with persistent or recurrent ovarian cancer. The YST was designed to teach essential aspects of yoga adapted to patients undergoing cancer treatment to reduce the common barriers to engaging in yoga (eg, scheduling, too busy or too sick).

Effects of Myofascial Release and Other Advanced Myofascial Therapies on Children With Cerebral Palsy: Six Case Reports

2012-05-01

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy methods are common for the treatment of cerebral palsy (CP). This case series is presented in an attempt to describe the use of Myofascial trigger point release to improve comfort, function, and decrease the spasticity (increased muscle tone) in children with CP.

Leeches, Creatine, Xylitol, Spinal Manipulation, Acupuncture

Richard Glickman-Simon, Alan Ehrlich — 2012-05-01

Level 2 (mid-level) evidence Reference: Clin J Pain 2011;27(5):442

Life-Long Learning in Integrative Healthcare

Victor S. Sierpina, Mary Jo Kreitzer — 2012-05-01

One of the pre-eminent learning goals of healthcare education in the past decade or so has been teaching our students the skills of life-long learning. With the rapid pace of technology and scientific research, we all stand the risk of becoming obsolete and out-of-date if we do not continue reading and studying during our careers. As a family doctor (V.S.S.) and a nurse educator/researcher (M.J.K.), it is a challenge to keep current in all the conventional therapies, guidelines, prevention recommendations, new medications, and so on. Combine that with keeping current with complementary and integrative practices, and we have a truly epic task—which reminds us too acutely of all the extra hours that our electronic health records, “labor-saving devices” that they are, have added to our workdays!

Editorial Board

2012-05-01

Masthead

2012-05-01

Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing

The Self: On Becoming a Nobody

Moral Insanity

Film Calls for a New Healthcare System

The Vagina Battles and National Wellness

Tibetan Medicine and Integrative Health: Validity Testing and Refinement of the Constitutional Self-Assessment Tool and Lifestyle Guidelines Tool

Religious Coping and Mental Health Outcomes: An Exploratory Study of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Patients

Time, Touch, and Compassion: Effects on Autonomic Nervous System and Well-Being

Emergence of a Signal from Background Noise in the “Memory of Water” Experiments: How to Explain It?

Feasibility of a Brief Yoga Intervention During Chemotherapy for Persistent or Recurrent Ovarian Cancer

Effects of Myofascial Release and Other Advanced Myofascial Therapies on Children With Cerebral Palsy: Six Case Reports

Leeches, Creatine, Xylitol, Spinal Manipulation, Acupuncture

Life-Long Learning in Integrative Healthcare

Editorial Board

Masthead

Contents