Spiritual Healing
Both spiritual healing and psychotherapy can lead a person to making significant steps in the personal development process. The pairing of these two methods of healing is a fairly new practice. Medical experts from the Western tradition have long viewed spiritual healing with great skepticism. They have been known to attribute the apparent success achieved by spiritual healing to coincidence, rather than verifiable positive results. Some doctors have begun to change their view of spiritual healers, however.
Psychotherapists are leading this newfound interest in spiritual healing. These practitioners are most interested in the potential effects that spiritual healing may have on people with emotional and psychosomatic problems. They have found that the high level of relaxation that many patients reach through spiritual healing relieves physical and mental ailments. Oftentimes these results are instantaneous and are undeniably effective according to many psychotherapists. This has led to a crossover between the Eastern spiritual beliefs and Western medical beliefs of healing the human body and mind.
Doctors have begun to see that Western science cannot explain every medical occurrence. Physicians from such backgrounds have begun to turn to spiritual healing as a potential place for treating patients whose symptoms don’t fit into conventional paradigms. Much research has been done to legitimize the effectiveness of spiritual healing. Many of these studies have focused on the issues of anxiety and pain. This has been especially interesting in regards to cardiovascular patients that are experiencing physical problems as a result of mental anxiety. This is of particular interest to psychotherapists. If they can control the mental ailments, physical complications will be avoided. We all have anxiety in our lives as a result of various emotional trauma. Spiritual healing has been shown to shorten the time necessary for a person to reach an optimal level of emotional awareness, which in turn causes a release of anxiety. It assists people in channeling their energy to rid their minds of negative mental issues, as well as focusing on positive occurrences.
Psychotherapy coupled with spiritual healing appears to offer more positive results than either method alone could produce. As these two forms of healing continue to be used together, additional studies will track the effectiveness of the healing. Both spiritual healing and psychotherapy have been shown to be extremely effective for a wide variety of patients. It is an important step for those from both the Eastern and Western traditions to work together to create the best results possible.
To read more on the subject, you may want to consider one of these books on the topic: “Integrating Traditional Healing Practices Into Counseling and Psychotherapy,” written by Roy Moodley, is a textbook-style book offering a comprehensive overview of the topic. For a quicker read, consider “Sacred Healing: Integrating Spirituality with Psychotherapy,” by Ronald L. Mann, Ph.D. This is a more accessible book designed for people with less of a medical or psychotherapeutic approach. Offering a look at the topic from a medical point of view, Spiritual Healing: Scientific Validation of a Healing Revolution is written by Daniel J. Benor MD. Originally a skeptic as to the actual effectiveness of spiritual healing, Dr. Benor is now fully convince, through scientific study and anecdotal review, that there is significant merit to the various methodologies. He is convinced that patients see significant benefits when spiritual healing is combined with more traditional medical care. Told in the easy-to-read and slightly irreverent style of the popular “Idiots” series, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Spiritual Healing was written by Dr. Susan Gregg. The book delves into complementary medicine and methods like acupuncture, shamanism and massage for therapy. Dr. Gregg includes extensive discussions on using the power of your mind to strengthen the connections between your body and your mind, and use those connections to improve your life in all areas.
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Although some forms of spiritual healing have been around much longer than the conventional medicine of today, they can – and often do -- work very well together. In fact, it is not recommended that any method of spiritual or complementary healing be used alone to treat medical conditions, although many of the methods can stand alone when used to tackle issues such as stress relief.
Spiritual healing in general endeavors to align the functions of the mind, body and spirit. It is believed that if those three things are working together, the body can perform to its full capacity. That includes experiencing more efficient healing after surgery, chemotherapy and serious illness. There have been reported cases where, although it didn’t prevent or cure disease, spiritual healing therapy has been said to make the lives of cancer and other patients more bearable while they underwent conventional treatments.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) includes energy therapies in its list of complementary treatments. NCCAM does concede that these therapies are among the most controversial, because the energy in the body has never been instrumentally measured. But NCCAM says that these treatments, most of them Eastern in origin, are gaining popularity in America and are starting to get attention from medical research facilities.
Reiki, the directing of energy through the body by a practitioner, has gathered a following in the medical field. It is offered at many hospitals, clinics and hospice care facilities. It’s said to help patients with pain management and healing, as well as with appetite and ability to get quality sleep. It is sometimes used to help patients recover from chemotherapy treatments. Many medical facilities also offer Reiki training.
Reflexology, another therapy that has become very popular, uses pressure points on the hands and feet to break up stress patterns in the body. These pressure points correlate with other areas in the body, resulting in a relaxation response from the entire body. Proponents of this type of therapy believe that this allows the body to begin to repair itself. Reflexology has also found its way into hospitals and other care facilities, and has been taken up by various medical care professionals. CranioSacral therapy uses a soft touch to get rid of obstructions in the craniosacral system (membranes and fluid that protect and surround the brain and spinal cord), which helps the central nervous system to function more freely. This therapy has been attributed to helping relieve migraine headaches, autism, colic, scoliosis, learning disabilities, post-traumatic stress disorder, orthopedic problems and post-surgical dysfunction, among other things.
There are many other complementary therapies to choose from, including Visceral Manipulation, Mechanical Link, Lymph Drainage therapy, Healing Touch therapy, and Polarity Therapy. Prayer has been proven to be a powerful tool for healing as well, and it is, of course, compatible with any other line of treatment that one might seek. The impact of spiritual healing, when combined with traditional medical therapies, has been proven through medical and scientific studies. And, based on these studies as well as anecdotal evidence, many healthcare practitioners are now open to the idea of adding a spiritual component to a patient’s overall health plan. As this trend increases, we can expect to see more medical facilities offering access to spiritual healing therapies. We also are beginning to see some HMOs accept these a legitimate therapies, and insurance plans are starting to cover some of these expenses. If you are currently under a doctor’s care, and want to add a spiritual healing component, be sure to talk to your doctor first and get his or her support.
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