Spiritual Healing and Psychotherapy
Both spiritual healing and psychotherapy can lead a person to making significant steps in the personal development process. The pairing of these two methods of healing is a fairly new practice. Medical experts from the Western tradition have long viewed spiritual healing with great skepticism. They have been known to attribute the apparent success achieved by spiritual healing to coincidence, rather than verifiable positive results.
Some doctors have begun to change their view of spiritual healers, however. Psychotherapists are leading this newfound interest in spiritual healing. These practitioners are most interested in the potential effects that spiritual healing may have on people with emotional and psychosomatic problems. They have found that the high level of relaxation that many patients reach through spiritual healing relieves physical and mental ailments. Oftentimes these results are instantaneous and are undeniably effective according to many psychotherapists.
This has led to a crossover between the Eastern spiritual beliefs and Western medical beliefs of healing the human body and mind. Doctors have begun to see that Western science cannot explain every medical occurrence. Physicians from such backgrounds have begun to turn to spiritual healing as a potential place for treating patients whose symptoms don’t fit into conventional paradigms.
Much research has been done to legitimize the effectiveness of spiritual healing. Many of these studies have focused on the issues of anxiety and pain. This has been especially interesting in regards to cardiovascular patients that are experiencing physical problems as a result of mental anxiety. This is of particular interest to psychotherapists. If they can control the mental ailments, physical complications will be avoided.
We all have anxiety in our lives as a result of various emotional trauma. Spiritual healing has been shown to shorten the time necessary for a person to reach an optimal level of emotional awareness, which in turn causes a release of anxiety. It assists people in channeling their energy to rid their minds of negative mental issues, as well as focusing on positive occurrences.
Psychotherapy coupled with spiritual healing appears to offer more positive results than either method alone could produce. As these two forms of healing continue to be used together, additional studies will track the effectiveness of the healing. Both spiritual healing and psychotherapy have been shown to be extremely effective for a wide variety of patients. It is an important step for those from both the Eastern and Western traditions to work together to create the best results possible.
To read more on the subject, you may want to consider one of these books on the topic:
“Integrating Traditional Healing Practices Into Counseling and Psychotherapy,” written by Roy Moodley, is a textbook-style book offering a comprehensive overview of the topic. For a quicker read, consider “Sacred Healing: Integrating Spirituality with Psychotherapy,” by Ronald L. Mann, Ph.D. This is a more accessible book designed for people with less of a medical or psychotherapeutic approach.
Offering a look at the topic from a medical point of view, Spiritual Healing: Scientific Validation of a Healing Revolution is written by Daniel J. Benor MD. Originally a skeptic as to the actual effectiveness of spiritual healing, Dr. Benor is now fully convince, through scientific study and anecdotal review, that there is significant merit to the various methodologies. He is convinced that patients see significant benefits when spiritual healing is combined with more traditional medical care.
Told in the easy-to-read and slightly irreverent style of the popular “Idiots” series, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Spiritual Healing was written by Dr. Susan Gregg. The book delves into complementary medicine and methods like acupuncture, shamanism and massage for therapy. Dr. Gregg includes extensive discussions on using the power of your mind to strengthen the connections between your body and your mind, and use those connections to improve your life in all areas.
Brought to you by:
Deb St. George, Publisher, Listen-Within.com
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