What is mind-body medicine?

     The separation between mind and body is an artificial one. Physiologically, the mind and body are intricately connected through complicated hormonal pathways. Change in one causes significant changes in the other -- it is a two-way street.

       Other cultures, such as Asian cultures, have taken advantage of this natural link to treat and prevent illness for centuries. Our strong reliance on the scientific method has resulted in these techniques just now gaining acceptance in our culture.

       Mind-body intervention programs are treatments for physical symptoms. They are not mental health treatments. Essentially, mind-body medicine is using the abilities of your mind to affect your physical body. This is sometimes called the placebo effect. Although some of the techniques are commonly practiced by religious groups, the techniques do not have to be used in any religious context to be effective for good health.

Why is the mind-body connection important?

Our mind produces thoughts, which create our emotions and activate our physiology through three major pathways:

1. The Musculoskeletal System - primarily our head, shoulders, neck, and low back.
   
   
2. The Sympathetic Nervous System - also called the flight or fight response - causes increases in heart and respiratory rates, blood clotting, and muscular contraction of fallopian tubes, GI tract, and large muscle groups.
   
   
3. The Psychoneuroendocrine System - causes the activation of our pituitary gland, which controls over thirty-six endocrine hormones. Virtually every body process, including our immune system, is indirectly influenced through the pituitary gland. Therefore, every aspect of our physical, emotional and psychological health, is influenced by our thoughts and emotions.

What proof is there that mind-body techniques work?

       A variety and combination of mind-body medicine techniques have been scientifically proven to effectively treat medical symptoms. Researchers at Harvard Medical School, Duke University, University of Rochester, and the University of California among many others, have documented these physiologic links.

       Mind-body techniques have been proven to enhance sports performance, improve concentration and sleep patterns, reduce the need for repeated office visits, shorten hospital stays, decrease the use of medications, and reduce total ambulatory care costs for physical illnesses.

What are some examples of mind-body techniques?

There are several categories of mind-body techniques. These are some of the more common ones:

(1)  Moving meditations, such as tai chi, the martial arts, yoga

(2)  Cognitive Restructuring, such as Learned Optimism training

(3)  Guided and Unguided Meditations (see background)

(4)  Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis

(5)  Various type of bodywork such as Swedish massage.

(6)  Journaling, and other writing techniques (see The Write Way)