Letter from the Publisher
Energy medicine is at the same time
high-tech/low-tech; Twenty-First Century/Twenty-First Century B.C.;
very rational/very intuitive, provable/disprovable; academically accepted/unaccepted;
real cool/very "woo-woo." If we consider only the traditional forms
of energy medicine vis-a-vis acupuncture; traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic
medicine; massage and physical adjustment -- most experts confer high
grades. Biofeedback, hypnosis, and meditation share similar accolades.
When we begin to move into more contemporary forms of energy medicine,
the opinions begin to differ. Homeopathy, chiropractic and osteopathy
all evolved in the 19th Century along with the eclectic schools of healing
to mixed reviews. Inventors designed all manner of magnetic and electronic
healing devices -- more to ridicule than approval. Alternative medicine
now embraces all these traditions and enterprises and has created a
panoply of healing devices, techniques and therapies, most of which
go without approval of conventional medicine, the FDA, or licensing
boards. Yet it would be negligent to ignore all these different forms
of energy medicine. For one thing, notwithstanding approval or disapproval
of medical authority, the public is thoroughly enthralled and involved
in the practices. For a second, academic research is demonstrating seemingly
unbelievable scientific observations: how, pray tell, can meditation
cause interferon production and t-lymphocyte activity to demonstrably
change? (Pray might be exactly right -- prayer may be the greatest and
most widely used form of energy medicine worldwide.) Thirdly, when healing
does take place, and the patient has engaged in a form of energy medicine
practice in addition to biological medicine, which played the more important
role in the healing process, the medicine or the energy form? For these
reasons we have decided to devote an issue of the Townsend Letter
primarily to energy medicine. You will find less discussion of Vitamin
E and anti-oxidants on these pages and more concern with energy fields,
psychological constructs, spiritual assistance, and physical touching.
Some folks just don't buy energy
medicine or have a very limited appetite to digest these topics. I generally
would agree. And it does not help that some energy masters must encrypt
their writings in arcane discussions only metaphysicists could love.
Nevertheless, I will ask those who are energy-medicine challenged to
take the plunge and peruse some of the writings herein. Not necessarily
to engage in academic study and begin a new energy medicine practice,
although it is mind-boggling to realize the number of practitioners
who now engage in at least one if not two, three or more forms of energy
medicine in their daily practices. No, I would ask you to consider energy
medicine in order to become a little more appreciative and perhaps,
knowledgeable, of what our colleagues are doing as well as what our
patients are engaging in. There is literally no possibility of any clinic
or center offering all these techniques, although a few are making an
effort to do just that. In the interim we need to become better informed
about energy medicine because it most certainly is impacting our practices,
even if we don't engage in these techniques. We need to appreciate how
the patient using energy medicine is enhancing or detracting from biologic
and natural medicine. The latter is not likely, but it can occur and
we need to be alert for the patient who is deteriorating using a questionable
therapy. How to judge the patient's progress in energy medicine is one
of our unofficial tasks as practitioners. As a rule of thumb, give the
energy therapy 3 months before officiating over the outcome, yea or
nay. Of course, there needs to be outcome checks at 6 months, one year
and two years. Many folks wander away from the energy technique long
before two years, but what I hate is the report that an energy process
is terrific and the story comes from one individual engaged with
a single practitioner for 2 weeks. Come on! No comments for 3 months,
please.
So give these writings a little of
your attention and a bit of your own feedback and personal experiences.
Jonathan Collin, MD
Menu
"Blinded" is Right
Clinical Medicine for the Year 2000: Treating Nuclear Bomb Exposure
Fleecing of America by Pharmaceuticals
Joy Out of Soy
Letter from the Publisher
Oncologists' Guaranteed Emplyment Act of 1998
Sleazy Side of Alternative Medicine
Stop Breast Cancer in Its Tracks
Vitamin B12: injectable versus oral
Vitamin Therapy
Dr Glenn Warner