The Mind/Body Connection: What is the Relationship?

    In Eastern philosophies, particularly in the Oriental and Indian cultures, the mind and body have been viewed as concurrent facets for thousands of years.  This holistic approach of self development, religious practices and psychoemotional indoctrination is observed as inseparable from human‑prototype.  On the other hand, Western culture mainly separates the mind/body into the psyche (something that exists in the skull) and the body.  This duality, often exhibited in our institutions, supports separation rather than integration.  Many researchers are now examining the significance of differing approaches and techniques in treating numerous conditions and circumstances.

 

     The 1960s brought on the consciousness of the public that the drugs used to combat illnesses often had more dangerous side effects than benefits.   This was the beginning of the holistic breakthrough in Western culture.  Contradictions became evident and still are.

 

     The 1990s are bringing more force in the belief of the mind/ body connection as society moves away from traditional medicine.  Deepak Chopra expresses Western medicine is moving "toward the amorphous, often perplexing field loosely known as mind-body medicine" making many doctors extremely uneasy.  Although most physicians follow medical literature, many are still unaware of current experimentation and are leery of mind/body approaches, though it has become a more credible field, Numerous doctors still have trust in chemicals only and not a thinking body.  Chopra further questions how can medical systems cure people yet the system disagrees so completely.  He believes that "all medicine works by helping a patient live through his disease . . . until the balance swings away from sickness towards cure.”  I agree with him that the healing "process does not happen in books but in living persons" Mind/body "medicine" attempts to remove obstacles so healing can take place.  The patient's reality must be cured first.

 

     In the realm of Eastern conviction, the mind influences every function of the body: movement, hormones, blood pressure, digestion, all systems.  Linked by an alarm system, the mechanism of the mind also organizes dysfunctional assumptions and irrational envisions reflecting psychological and somatic disharmony. Often this disharmony manifests in the physical body in forms of ill health and disease (dis-ease).

 

      Ken Dychtwald addresses that one of the components that can be conceived as formation of the mind/body is emotional and psychological activity and exposure.  He further explains that "emotional stimulation of the muscles can have the same effect on the body as purely physical activity. . . .   The body begins to form around the feelings that animate it, and the feelings, in turn, become habituated and trapped within the body tissue itself.”  Our Western civilization agonizes over self-hatred, fear, anger and guilt.   Blaming others and not taking responsibility for our experiences epitomizes negativity and often reveals subluxations in the body.

 

     Within the position of Western medicine, it was only in about 1900 that the mastery of biomedicine came into effect.  Until that time the placebo effect was prominent.  In 1964, the pioneer of placebo research, Arthur K. Shapiro, suggested there was evidence of tangible expectations in self-healing mechanisms. Studies have shown that placebos (sugar pills, hypnosis, meditation, etc.) have resulted in recovery from anxiety, seasickness, insomnia, obesity, and wound pain.  So, are we saying these symptoms are psychogenic?  Maybe, but if the placebo is to work, the belief has to be in the doctor or healer and the nature of the approach. 

 

     Denouncing Western medicine would be a mistake in cases of life-threatening diseases where drastic measures must be taken with no altercation.  However, I do agree with Chopra "that viewing disease as a distortion of intelligence might represent a move toward a deeper level of understanding, and therefore treatment.”  The "principle of Rumplestiltskin" is essential in all health settings so the patient can accept the diagnosis and cure.

 

     In this Western world of science and research, when we ask the question "What is the relationship between the mind and the body?", it does not necessarily mean that we can satisfactorily answer it.  On one hand research indicates that the mind is in the brain or a secretion of the brain, and on the other hand research shows that neuropeptides produced by the brain correspond with the immune and endocrine systems through the circulation of the monocytes.  The attempt to correlate between Western medicine and traditional or Eastern philosophy exemplifies the fundamental East-West controversy in the paradigms of well-being and ailment.  In this realm, I believe that physical manifestations can be treated successfully with relaxation, imagery, hypnosis, or biofeedback (or the 2000 term of "complimentary health care") because we have within us the indigenous self-healing systems that are mobilized and invoked with relevant environmental innuendo without the side effects of conventional drugs.