Abstract

This article is inspired by a fascinating series of YouTube videos on studies of the placebo effect on pains and other problems. A high-powered team of eight academics from various disciplines discusses research on many ways in which placebo reactions can be stimulated. These videos are most interesting for the self-healings they reveal. More fascinating yet are the limitations of the vision and comprehension of the conventional medical establishment about possible mechanisms of action for these processes. As I, myself, was taught in medical school, conventional medicine perceives people to be bodies with brains that may alter responses to physical conditions in rather limited fashions. Within this framework of explanations, self-healing is something of a mysterious surprise. In contrast, self healing is a very natural and common process within a wholistic perspective where people are understood to be composed of body, emotions, mind, relationships (with other people and with the environment) and spirit. From a wholistic perspective, individuals are expected and encouraged to generate self-healings through varieties of mind-body and bioenergy mechanisms. Within this perspective, symptoms are reflections of a persons state of being in the world. When we address all levels of their being, not just the physical, then self-healing is a natural and frequent occurrence for most people.