Innate Capacity for Self-Healing

The last century has brought remarkable advances in biomedical technology and treatment. As a society, we have come to expect that effective treatments and cure should be available for most medical conditions. Yet, most of the symptoms, syndromes, and illnesses that people and patients experience cannot be explained by organic disease identifiable by currently available medical tests and the biomedical model of illness, disease, healing and health.

Most of these medically unexplained "functional" symptoms and illnesses are related to medical labeling of functional symptoms as functional syndromes (e.g., irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia), stress and the stress response, the emotional brain and emotional distress, negative thinking and beliefs, and unhealthy lifestyle choices and behaviors. These factors also cause or contribute to serious diseases, such as metabolic syndrome and asthma.

Each of us has a remarkable capacity for self-healing. There is a scientific and neurobiologic basis of the MindBody Connection that is common to all healing traditions. Understanding homeostasis (balance), the stress response, the emotional brain, the placebo response and our innate capacity for self-healing represents the intersection and convergent common ground of ancient, traditional, complementary/alternative, and Western biomedical approaches to health, disease, illness, and healing.

Finally, empiric and scientific evidence continues to confirm that there is a spiritual dimension to the MindBody connection and that spirituality and religion may be beneficial to health. The appropriate term is the MindBodySpirit Connection (biopsychosocialspiritual medical model). It is no longer appropriate to separate mind from body, mind from gut or mindbody from spirit.