Mind and Body Medicine: Mind-Body Medicine focuses on the interactions between mind and body and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social and spiritual factors can directly affect health.
Today, there is renewed interest in age old traditions such as yoga and meditation. No longer viewed with suspicion, mind-body programs are now established at prestigious medical schools in the United States and around the world, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, emphasize the links between the mind and the body. Western medical views were shaped by systems of thought that emphasized the opposite -- the mind and body are separate. In 1964, psychiatrist George Solomon noticed that people with rheumatoid arthritis got worse when they were depressed. He began to investigate the impact emotions had on inflammation and the immune system in general. The new field was called psychoneuroimmunology ("psycho" for psychology; "neuro" for neurology, or nervous system; and "immunology" for immunity).
Tools and techniques specific to medicine practiced: There are many techniques to be used during mind/body medicine including diet, exercise, yoga, hypnosis, meditation, prayer, tai chi, creative arts (music, art, dance), relaxation, and guided imagery just to name a few. You will need different tools for each technique, but some techniques can be accomplished without any tools such as prayer, or positive thinking. |