How Healing Really Works (any kind of healing)

When someone who is sick goes to see the physician, either traditional or Western trained, the patient presents the practitioner with a litany of symptoms.  After examining the patient, it is now the physicians responsibility to diagnose the disorder and to administer the specific therapy.

Ideally, the specific therapy is administered with a minimum of side effects, as the cure will be that much more effective.  If side effects turn up, they usually set up a vicious circle complicating the initial picture, and making it still more difficult to diagnose, which can often lead to errors in diagnosis and therefore in treatment.

While it is the physicians' aim to cure the patient, he/she should do so in such a way that minimizes or avoids them altogether, as unwanted side effects are good for no one.

While there are many methods of therapy, such as drugs, herbs, acupuncture, homeopathic remedies, naturopathic remedies, chiropractic, manipulation, massage, surgery and so on, they each have their sphere of influence and range of usefulness.

When looking at all the above methods, it is clear that acupuncture is the least damaging to the human body.  In this light, it should be the first line of treatment in most disorders.  The use of acupuncture does not exclude any of the other modalities, and other modalities can easily be combined with it.  In my clinic, we often employ massage therapy, vitamins and supplements as well as lifestyle and dietary advice to achieve the maximum effect in the shortest period of time.

As far as the patient is concerned, it must be realized that the patient is by and large not interested in the rationale for the therapy itself.  His only concern is to get better!

It is also an error to conclude that a Western trained doctor achieves his/her success entirely through the application of his/her knowledge.  The doctor succeeds because the doctor himself is a therapeutic agent!  The patient sees him as a healer, and the physician, consciously or unconsciously, assumes this role that the patient has cast for him.

Thus, the healer is the best drug!  In 35% of all patients, they get better or have reduction in symptoms, regardless of the therapy cast their way.  This is known as placebo effect.  The simple act of asking for help with one's symptoms can often result in a cure!

While this may seem irrational on the part of our Western trained minds, it is true nonetheless that the healer is the most potent factor in the "therapy", whatever that therapy may be.  The practitioner is an indispensable element in the healer/patient relationship, with great therapeutic potential.

Thus, in the case of acupuncture, it is not the needle, but the man or woman behind the needle that initiates the cure.