The Models of Healing
Many people today who are interested in alternative medicine have been disillusioned by the biomedical system and managed care, yet they have little faith in alternative options for healthcare. In order to make an educated decision about alternative healthcare, it is beneficial to view the options from the perspective of the systems of healing. Proponents of the systems of healing approach support the notions that human consciousness, belief systems, and social worlds all affect the patient’s experiences of illness and healing. Many researchers and theorists emphasize social and behavioral components that reflect a wide variety of effective healing systems in which human consciousness plays an essential role. The systems of healing approach can also be utilized when viewing healing systems within a spiritual context. The psychological changes resulting from these spiritually oriented interventions can be identified in physical, psychological, and spiritual frameworks.
Jerome Frank, M.D., Ph. D. first published Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy in 1963. His daughter, Julia Frank, M.D., was added as a co-author for the third edition of the book in 1991. The Franks have devoted themselves to observing and understanding psychotherapy. They focused on finding the common denominators that exist in the process of psychotherapy. Commonalities may also be found in both indigenous and alternative healing systems. The essential elements of healing identified by Frank can also be found in both indigenous and alternative healing systems such as those in the Philippines. This author promotes that this spiritual realm exists, at least in the realm of human consciousness, and illness can be successfully treated utilizing spiritual and spirit-directed medicine. Since ancient times, the cures for injuries and illness mainly consisted of herbs, physical exercise, and fasts, all in combination with rituals. These were typical treatments in tribal, or kinship group's medicine. Rituals are performed in which either the shaman and/or the patient perform active roles in prescribed treatment.
Frank and Frank trace healing traditions back to a time when illness was regarded as primarily supernatural or magical. Treatment consisted of rituals that reversed the cause of the illness, such as the "spell casting or hexing" traditions that are still prevalent and practiced commonly by the mananambal or the tambalans in the Visayan Islands in the Philippines. Some of the traditional healing or curing rituals the Franks mention typically required the active participation of not only the patient but the patient’s family or community members as well. Active participation requires effort and activities on the part of the patient and others toward a defined healing goal. This participation promotes either the creation of a cognitive shift or a cathartic experience in the patient and is supported by the patient’s family and social support system.
In the introduction of Frank and Frank’s (1991) book Persuasion and Healing, the authors contend that the brain acts not only as the seat of consciousness but also as the control mechanism for bodily functions, the nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system. “It also involves the way attitudes, moods, and emotions, processed by the brain, can promote health or set the stage for illness” (p. xi). Additionally, one must have a shared cultural experience or at least comprehend the client’s belief about the illness to promote a cure. Although the Franks’ focus of healing principles is on psychotherapy, the authors address issues applicable to indigenous and CAM healing systems. “Examination of religious healing across cultures illuminates certain aspects of human functioning that are relevant to psychotherapy” (p. 87). Frank and Frank’s theory is congruent with those of Brody and Brody (2000) and Kleinman (1980, 1988a, and 1988b) regarding the role of human consciousness in illness and healing experiences in which the brain functions as the seat of the soul and of inner healing mechanisms.
The conclusion of Frank and Frank, whose focus was on different forms of psychotherapy and included the similarities between psychotherapy and indigenous healing rituals, was the importance of shifting the emphasis from differences in therapies to similarities. “The interaction between particular therapists and patients, determined by the personal qualities, values and expectations of both, contributes more to the outcome than does therapeutic technique” (1991, p. 300). Essential elements of healing identified by Frank and Frank were (1) the instillation of hope and anticipation of a positive outcome, (2) emotional arousal and a sense of mastery brought about by the patient and healer taking active roles in the process of the healing, and (3) the healer’s role incorporates acts of persuasion and includes the use of rhetoric. The three main factors prominent in effective healing experiences studied by Frank and Frank included (a) hope or positive expectation, (b) emotional arousal, and (c) enhancement of the sense of mastery. The authors determined that patients who had the most improved experience experienced enhanced mastery and felt more control over their own life experiences.
E. F. Torrey, M. D., a clinical and research psychiatrist with a background in anthropology, published in 1972 The Mind Game: Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists. His revised book became Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists: The Common Roots of Psychotherapy and its Future, published in 1986. Torrey identified four fundamental elements that are operative in effective medicine, psychotherapy, and alternative healing systems. He pointed out that the healer’s process of naming the affliction was the beginning of the therapeutic process. (1) A shared worldview makes the diagnosing/naming process possible, a precursor to the instillation of hope. (2) Torrey discussed specific personal qualities of the healer that appear to facilitate recovery. These personal qualities include empathy, nonpossessive warmth, and personal genuineness. These are also the principles promoted by Carl Rogers (1957) as the essential elements in his client-centered therapy. (3) Patient expectations of recovery assist in the healing process. Expectant faith, or the instillation of hope, was recognized by Sigmund Freud in 1940 as positively affecting the healing processes. Torrey also concluded that the fourth principle (4) specific techniques, the materials, and the healing procedures all assist in empowering the patient and promote the patient’s sense of mastery over the problem or illness.
Jerome Frank, M.D., Ph. D. first published Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy in 1963. His daughter, Julia Frank, M.D., was added as a co-author for the third edition of the book in 1991. The Franks have devoted themselves to observing and understanding psychotherapy. They focused on finding the common denominators that exist in the process of psychotherapy. Commonalities may also be found in both indigenous and alternative healing systems. The essential elements of healing identified by Frank can also be found in both indigenous and alternative healing systems such as those in the Philippines. This author promotes that this spiritual realm exists, at least in the realm of human consciousness, and illness can be successfully treated utilizing spiritual and spirit-directed medicine. Since ancient times, the cures for injuries and illness mainly consisted of herbs, physical exercise, and fasts, all in combination with rituals. These were typical treatments in tribal, or kinship group's medicine. Rituals are performed in which either the shaman and/or the patient perform active roles in prescribed treatment.
Frank and Frank trace healing traditions back to a time when illness was regarded as primarily supernatural or magical. Treatment consisted of rituals that reversed the cause of the illness, such as the "spell casting or hexing" traditions that are still prevalent and practiced commonly by the mananambal or the tambalans in the Visayan Islands in the Philippines. Some of the traditional healing or curing rituals the Franks mention typically required the active participation of not only the patient but the patient’s family or community members as well. Active participation requires effort and activities on the part of the patient and others toward a defined healing goal. This participation promotes either the creation of a cognitive shift or a cathartic experience in the patient and is supported by the patient’s family and social support system.
In the introduction of Frank and Frank’s (1991) book Persuasion and Healing, the authors contend that the brain acts not only as the seat of consciousness but also as the control mechanism for bodily functions, the nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system. “It also involves the way attitudes, moods, and emotions, processed by the brain, can promote health or set the stage for illness” (p. xi). Additionally, one must have a shared cultural experience or at least comprehend the client’s belief about the illness to promote a cure. Although the Franks’ focus of healing principles is on psychotherapy, the authors address issues applicable to indigenous and CAM healing systems. “Examination of religious healing across cultures illuminates certain aspects of human functioning that are relevant to psychotherapy” (p. 87). Frank and Frank’s theory is congruent with those of Brody and Brody (2000) and Kleinman (1980, 1988a, and 1988b) regarding the role of human consciousness in illness and healing experiences in which the brain functions as the seat of the soul and of inner healing mechanisms.
The conclusion of Frank and Frank, whose focus was on different forms of psychotherapy and included the similarities between psychotherapy and indigenous healing rituals, was the importance of shifting the emphasis from differences in therapies to similarities. “The interaction between particular therapists and patients, determined by the personal qualities, values and expectations of both, contributes more to the outcome than does therapeutic technique” (1991, p. 300). Essential elements of healing identified by Frank and Frank were (1) the instillation of hope and anticipation of a positive outcome, (2) emotional arousal and a sense of mastery brought about by the patient and healer taking active roles in the process of the healing, and (3) the healer’s role incorporates acts of persuasion and includes the use of rhetoric. The three main factors prominent in effective healing experiences studied by Frank and Frank included (a) hope or positive expectation, (b) emotional arousal, and (c) enhancement of the sense of mastery. The authors determined that patients who had the most improved experience experienced enhanced mastery and felt more control over their own life experiences.
E. F. Torrey, M. D., a clinical and research psychiatrist with a background in anthropology, published in 1972 The Mind Game: Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists. His revised book became Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists: The Common Roots of Psychotherapy and its Future, published in 1986. Torrey identified four fundamental elements that are operative in effective medicine, psychotherapy, and alternative healing systems. He pointed out that the healer’s process of naming the affliction was the beginning of the therapeutic process. (1) A shared worldview makes the diagnosing/naming process possible, a precursor to the instillation of hope. (2) Torrey discussed specific personal qualities of the healer that appear to facilitate recovery. These personal qualities include empathy, nonpossessive warmth, and personal genuineness. These are also the principles promoted by Carl Rogers (1957) as the essential elements in his client-centered therapy. (3) Patient expectations of recovery assist in the healing process. Expectant faith, or the instillation of hope, was recognized by Sigmund Freud in 1940 as positively affecting the healing processes. Torrey also concluded that the fourth principle (4) specific techniques, the materials, and the healing procedures all assist in empowering the patient and promote the patient’s sense of mastery over the problem or illness.
The Torrey model determines essential mechanisms of various systems of healing. These four essential elements that affect psychotherapy also manifest, overlap, and blend with many of the other systems of healing frameworks employed by researchers. These principles apply not only to psychotherapy but also provide a vehicle to transcend cultural barriers and include indigenous healing practices and other alternative systems of healing. Torrey’s model includes these four elements:
- A Shared Worldview
- Patient Expectations of Healing
- The Personal Qualities of The Healer
- Specific Techniques and Materials (Materia Medica)
The various aspects of the healer’s procedures assist in empowering the patient and promoting positive outcomes. The same dynamic can be observed in shamanic healing ritual contexts. Taking an active role in one’s own healing process can give a patient a sense of empowerment. Torrey’s book title promotes the idea that there is not a huge difference between witch doctors and psychiatrists, a notion which this author agrees. Torrey has identified essential elements of healing that exemplify the role of consciousness in human beings’ illness and healing experiences.
Given the times in which we live, it has become increasingly important to attempt to bridge the gap that exists in our experiences, between physical, psychological, and spiritual. Meaning-centered models of illness and health have contributed greatly to assisting this unification of our understanding. While the terms “treatment modalities”, “placebo response” and “faith healing” may describe very similar phenomena, the role of faith and belief has re-emerged as a focus of great importance in our lives and our experience of wellness. It is my intention to assist in bridging the gap between spiritual, psychological, and physical factors. I prefer the term faith healing to the placebo effect or response, but will defer to the meaning-centered models of successful treatment modalities.
Due to the complexity of illnesses and healing experiences, several researchers have attempted to determine the universal components of each. Many contemporary researchers and theorists have tried to define illnesses and healing experiences and have created classifications as to cause and cure in order to provide descriptions of particular systems of healing. Proponents of the systems of healing perspective strongly believe that not only physical symptoms but also human consciousness (Krippner, 2000). Social and environmental experiences also play prominent roles in affecting human illness and healing experiences (Kleinman, 1980).
Researchers and medical scientists have worked diligently for many generations to try to describe, define, and classify illnesses and diseases as to cause and cure. The results of biomedical research are overwhelming in depth of detail and usefulness as diagnostic tools. Such research has yielded great authority and a firmness of belief in its classifications, which supposedly rivals no other. The biomedical system of classification and prescribed methods of healing are also always changing as new information is accumulated. Yet, western medicine does not generally allow for the integration of information outside of the empirical perspective, such as utilizing psychology to create a catharsis, a common result of spirit-directed medical techniques. It is necessary to include the use of systems of healing approaches to broaden the research into the avenues of spirituality, spiritism, subtle energies, and other spirit-directed therapies. The systems of healing approach can be utilized to assist in understanding the effectiveness of indigenous and other spiritual healing systems. Krippner and Remen (2000) summarized researchers’ findings and developed a model of systems of healing based on their perceived essential elements of illness and healing experiences. Krippner and Remen presented a model for describing systems of healing consisting of these categories: (a) the illness, (b) the healer, (c) the healing relationship, (d) the healing transaction, (e) the social issues, and (f) the ethical issues. Specific questions were proposed to assist in developing a description of a healing system.
Given the times in which we live, it has become increasingly important to attempt to bridge the gap that exists in our experiences, between physical, psychological, and spiritual. Meaning-centered models of illness and health have contributed greatly to assisting this unification of our understanding. While the terms “treatment modalities”, “placebo response” and “faith healing” may describe very similar phenomena, the role of faith and belief has re-emerged as a focus of great importance in our lives and our experience of wellness. It is my intention to assist in bridging the gap between spiritual, psychological, and physical factors. I prefer the term faith healing to the placebo effect or response, but will defer to the meaning-centered models of successful treatment modalities.
Due to the complexity of illnesses and healing experiences, several researchers have attempted to determine the universal components of each. Many contemporary researchers and theorists have tried to define illnesses and healing experiences and have created classifications as to cause and cure in order to provide descriptions of particular systems of healing. Proponents of the systems of healing perspective strongly believe that not only physical symptoms but also human consciousness (Krippner, 2000). Social and environmental experiences also play prominent roles in affecting human illness and healing experiences (Kleinman, 1980).
Researchers and medical scientists have worked diligently for many generations to try to describe, define, and classify illnesses and diseases as to cause and cure. The results of biomedical research are overwhelming in depth of detail and usefulness as diagnostic tools. Such research has yielded great authority and a firmness of belief in its classifications, which supposedly rivals no other. The biomedical system of classification and prescribed methods of healing are also always changing as new information is accumulated. Yet, western medicine does not generally allow for the integration of information outside of the empirical perspective, such as utilizing psychology to create a catharsis, a common result of spirit-directed medical techniques. It is necessary to include the use of systems of healing approaches to broaden the research into the avenues of spirituality, spiritism, subtle energies, and other spirit-directed therapies. The systems of healing approach can be utilized to assist in understanding the effectiveness of indigenous and other spiritual healing systems. Krippner and Remen (2000) summarized researchers’ findings and developed a model of systems of healing based on their perceived essential elements of illness and healing experiences. Krippner and Remen presented a model for describing systems of healing consisting of these categories: (a) the illness, (b) the healer, (c) the healing relationship, (d) the healing transaction, (e) the social issues, and (f) the ethical issues. Specific questions were proposed to assist in developing a description of a healing system.