|
1
2
3
4
5
6
WS5
First Annual Research Symposium on “Energetic and
Spiritual Processes of Healing”
(continuação)
12 Developing
Tools to Assess Outcomes for Spiritual/Energetic
Healing: Pilot Study
Elizabeth Sutherland1,2, Cheryl Ritenbaugh1,2, Susan
Kiley3, Nancy Vuckovic1,
1Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente
Northwest, 2Helfgott Research Institute, National
College of Naturopathic Medicine, Portland, and 3Kaiser
Permanente Northwest Pain Management Clinic
Objective: Conventional assessment instruments do
not capture the multidimensional outcomes of
spiritual/energetic healing. To address this, we
elicited descriptions of how subjects themselves
describe their healing process. The long-term goal is to
develop language that can portray a patient’s healing
experience, regardless of healing tradition, and
ultimately to deepen our understanding of what actually
heals. This work is initially qualitative but can lead
to development of Likert-type scales for
spiritual/energetic outcomes assessment.
Materials and Methods: Within a pilot study of
energy healing for chronic headache, six female patients
recruited from Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) Pain
Clinic were given audiotaped interviews for
approximately one hour at baseline, post-third
treatment, end of treatment, and three months after end
of treatment. Initial analysis was conducted by coding
interviews for emergent themes, common descriptors, and
key events.
Results: Each participant reported profound
shifts in self-awareness after three sessions. In each
case changes were noted by others (healthcare providers,
family members), and four of six showed decreased
utilization of KPNW medical resources. Examples of
language used to describe this experience included:
“Walls that obstructed my creativity have melted”;
and “Something locked up inside me since childhood has
released, relieving the hold it had on my body.”
Potential scalable items from this study will be used in
the next pilot.
Conclusion: Patients’ descriptions of their
healing process may lead to a systematic way to query
patients across healing traditions and provide the basis
for spiritual/energetic outcomes assessment scales.
Supported in part by the NCCAM-funded by the Oregon
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and by
Kaiser Permanente Northwest.Theory
13 A Complex
Adaptive Systems Science Model for Transformational
Healing in Homeopathy
Iris R. Bell, MD PhD,
Program in Integrative Medicine, The University of
Arizona College of Medicine
Objective. To describe a complex adaptive system
(CAS) science model for transformational healing in
homeopathy.
Methods. Examined homeopathic case analysis
approaches and empirical evidence.
Results. Observationally, 70-90% of homeopathic
patients improve; 20% report multidimensional,
transformational responses. Treatment choice derives
from fixed patterns/themes that permeate the patient’s
presentation as a whole, emphasizing mental and general
symptoms. A tenet of classical homeopathy is that all
disease begins at the spiritual level, manifesting at
mental, emotional, and physical levels. Each person
needs a single remedy from the earth’s animal,
mineral, or plant kingdom that expresses the intensity
of a pervasive life theme, e.g., survival and
competition (animals), structure (minerals), sensitivity
(plants). In a qualitative study, homeopaths reported
“unstuckness” from recurrent self-defeating
behaviors as signaling transformational change. Change
occurs in a hierarchical pattern from within outward,
above downward, and in reverse order of time of
appearance. Two recent quantitative studies demonstrated
nonlinear, dynamical (nonstatic) patterns of responses
to homeopathic remedies.
Discussion. Systems science accommodates the
convergent clinical and empirical evidence. A person is
a CAS, an open evolutionary self-organized system in
which many different independent variables interact in
interdependent and unpredictable ways. Each person is
part of the larger dynamic network of the planet, living
out, within a human experience, the challenges/themes of
his/her environment’s animal, mineral, or plant
components. Correct homeopathic treatment triggers a
cascade of sudden change, i.e., self-organized
criticality, leading to healthier adaptation throughout
the person and network. The model predicts homeopathic
treatment of super-connected individuals should markedly
improve world-network health.
Supported by NIH K24 AT00057 and P20 AT00774 from the
National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCCAM). Its contents are solely the
responsibility of the author and do not necessarily
represent the official views of NCCAM or NIH.
POSTER PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
A.
Physiology
A1 Energy
Healing Training and Heart Rate Variability
Katharine O. Burleson, MD1, Kim G. Corely2, BA., and
Gary E. Schwartz2, PhD;
1Program in Integrative Medicine; 2Human Energy Systems
Laboratory; The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
Objectives: Clinical research studies routinely
use heart rate variability (HRV) as a marker of
autonomic tone. We examined the effect of a one week
intensive training program in energy healing on HRV.
Methods: Self selected individuals (Associated
Fellows in the Program in Integrative Medicine)
interested in energy healing and research participated
in a one week, residential training program in energy
healing. HRV was measured in two minute trials, before
and after the training period during a baseline
condition of mental counting (CC) and during an equal
time period of “running energy” (RE) at a gamma
detector positioned at three distances. HRV data was
analyzed for 13 subjects who completed both data
sessions using ANOVAs between the four conditions:
counting pre training, running pre training, counting
post training, and running post training.
Results: Heart Rate was not significantly
different between any of the four conditions. RE
resulted in a significant increase in low frequency (LF)
HRV compared to CC over all conditions, p = .03. There
was a significant interaction between the pre-post
training state and the count-running condition, p = .04.
For high frequency (HF) HRV, there was a significant
decrease during RE compared to CC, p=. 03, and an
interaction between the pre-post training and the
count-running conditions, p=. 05.
Conclusion: Novice energy healers show a
significant decrease in parasympathetic tone based on
changes in HRV when running energy. This difference is
diminished after a one week training session on energy
healing.
Supported in part by NIH grant P20-AT000774 from the
National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (NCCAM) Its contents are solely the
responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily
represent the official views of NCCAM or NIH.
A2 Surface
Electromyography (EMG) as a Measurement Device for
Biofield Research
Mitzi A. Forbes1, Ph.D., R.N., CHTP; Ray Rust2, Ph.D.,
CHTP, Gerald J. Becker3, CHTP.
1College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee;
2Bell Laboratories - Distinguished Technical Staff
(Retired), Holistic Healing Opportunities, Inc..
Midlothian, VA; 3College of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Objectives: The objective of this preliminary
investigation was to determine if surface EMG is capable
of detecting electrical signals that can be used as a
measure in biofield research.
Materials and Methods: These preliminary data
were collected from one subject (a member of the
research team), using the subject as his own control.
Resting state data are compared to data collected during
Healing Touch (HT) intervention. The setting was in an
electromagnetically shielded room at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Data were collected during a
resting state, and subsequently during the application
of a partial standard HT back sequence. Electrodes were
attached to the back of the subject at eight acupoints.
A Therapeutics Unlimited Model 544 EMG System (amplifier
and electrode assembly) was used to acquire data. The
raw data were divided into discrete time segments and
converted from the time domain into the frequency domain
by performing a fast Fourier transform, (FFT).
Results: An averaged base line, "resting
state" frequency spectrum was definable for the
subject that was stable with time. When the HT
practitioner attuned with the subject, higher frequency
components in the spectrum started to increase in
amplitude. The higher frequency components continued to
change throughout the intervention, ultimately returning
to their original amplitude.
Conclusion: The conclusion drawn from these
results is that surface EMG has potential as a
measurement device for biofield research. Further
experimentation using this device for biofield
measurement is encouraged.
A3 The Effect
of Reiki on the Immune System
Wendy Hodsdon, Elissa Mendenhall, Rebeccas Green, Sara
Kates-Chinnoy, Elizabeth Wacker, and Heather Zwickey;
Helfgott Research Institue at the National College of
Naturopathic Medicine, Portland, OR, 97201
Objectives: Although energy medicines such as
Reiki have been shown to have an overall effect on
health, the mechanisms by which energy medicine act are
currently unknown. This study examines the effects of
Reiki on cellular immunity.
Materials And Methods: Two protocols have been
used. The first protocol randomized people subjects into
3 groups: Reiki, relaxation control, or neither Reiki
nor relaxation control. Blood was drawn before
treatment, immediately following treatment, or 4 hours
post treatment. The second protocol exposed each subject
to each treatment through the following process: blood
draw, relaxation, blood draw, Reiki, blood draw. In both
studies, white blood cells were isolated using ficoll
blood tubes and stained with markers for CD4 and CD8
T-cells, B-cells, NK-cells and macrophages. All the
cells were stained with an early activation marker
(CD69) to measure activation. A flow cytometer was used
to quantitate amount of activation of each cell type. In
the second protocol, heart math was also used to measure
general mental-emotional state.
Results: While this study is ongoing, preliminary
results indicate an increase in cell activation in the
group of each cell type. In the second protocol, heart
math was also used to measure general mental-emotional
state.
Conclusions: Our study shows a white cell
activation (most likely macrophages) in patients
receiving Reiki. These results provide the basis for
further study of the immunological effects of energy
medicine.
A4 The
physiological effects of amethyst exposure on humans, a
double-blind study using EEG and GDV
D.A. Lewis II1,2, H. Friedman2, L. Mehl-Madrona3,5, G.E.
Schwartz1,4,5, S.E. Lewis1,2,3, I.R. Bell1,3,4,5,6,7, A.
Scott1,4 1Center for
Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science; 2Saybrook
Graduate School and Research Institute, San Francisco,
CA; 3Program in Integrative Medicine; 4Department of
Psychology; 5Department of Surgery; 6College of
Medicine; 7College of Public Health; The University of
Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
Objective: This study is looking to see if there
are any biofield effects on people following exposure to
amethyst.
Methods: This randomized double-blind two phase
study, uses self-report state/trait questionnaires to
determine if there are any biopsychosocial mechanisms
related to subject’s ability to detect the
presence/absence of crystals. Phase one employs a 10 x
10 design in which a subject places his/her hand in one
of ten wooden boxes which were preloaded with one of the
test conditions (natural amethyst, synthetic amethyst
and no stone present). The subject’s are asked to
guess which boxes they feel contains a stone. Phase Two
employs the use of: electroencephalograph [EEG],
electrocardiograph [EKG] and Gas Discharge Visualization
[GDV] to measure physiological response to
homeopathically prepared amethyst, synthetic amethyst,
base solvent and water; which are presented to the
subject’s via an olfactory sniff test.
Results: Preliminary results (n=10) indicate 1)
the EEG shows an overall increase in relative magnitude
pre/post exposure to amethyst 2) the GDV results match
the historical record of amethyst, (aids in healing the
endocrine, uro-genital, blood-vascular and nervous
systems), and 3) that those individuals reporting an
affinity for crystals report improved mood scores on the
POMS and have a lower trait absorption score.
(continua)
1
2
3
4
5
6
|
imprimir
com os comandos
do seu browserr
|