Journal of Holistic Healthcare
Issue 7.2 - Oct 2010
 

Preparing for challenge from crisis to blessing
William Bloom

I recently faced major surgery for the first time. The core message of this article is the possibility of transforming a crisis into a blessing, from a state of worry into a state of kindness, courage and generosity. In relation to my surgery, I could not just switch on that attitude. It took me a while to get there. Here I am alive and well, having gone through my first ever general anaesthetic and surgery and I am grateful to be so well. (What I thought was the natural decline of old age turned out to be a surfeit of calcium, which is now healed, and I feel vital again! And lucky). So I thought I would share the strategies I used to prepare for the surgery and that are relevant to other challenging situations. I am hoping that these ideas and tactics will prove useful for you too if you find yourself facing something similar.


A vision of integrative medicine - myth or reality?
Elizabeth Thompson

Following a short flu-like illness I realised that I was not bouncing back with my usual resilience. As I finally surrendered to the illness as an insistent mentor and guide, help seemed to flow towards me. For example one morning it dawned on me that I was experiencing burnout and by afternoon a dear friend had brought me The Joy of Burnout by Diane Glouberman. One of the central questions in the book was "over the past ten years are you aware of anything that has disappointed you deeply?"


Can amygdala retraining techniques improve the wellbeing of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome?
Ashok Gupta

This paper is an initial clinical audit on Amygdala Retraining Techniques (ART), a novel set of holistic treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). ART is based on the hypothesis that CFS is caused by on-going trauma in the amygdale.The clinical audit revealed higher rates of improvement in comparison to the natural remission rate in other intervention studies. Further randomised controlled studies are recommended to investigate the efficacy of the treatments.


Why would anyone use an unproven or disproven therapy?
Edzard Ernst

In my job, professor of complementary medicine, I meet many clinicians who do the strangest things, for instance, administer unproven or disproven treatments (UDTs). I have often asked myself: why? For many years, I have been pondering this seemingly simple question, and gradually I became convinced that there is not one single reason but at least four themes that we need to consider.


An observation of integrated health in Rajasthan, India
Victoria Burrows

This is a reflective report of my medical elective. It details my observations of an active, integrated healthcare system in India. How does it work? What do people think? Is it possible here in the UK? Practically, what can we, as healthcare providers, actually do in order to instigate the process of change?


The Open Plan
James Cattermole

When the Kai clinic won the BHMA Healing Spaces award in 2008 doctors who shared the premises said they saw a positive effect on mood and health. How has the service bedded in, what do patients think, and what is its future?


Hands-on healing for animals
Margrit Coates

About 12 years ago I was already offering natural therapies to people. One of my patients, a woman recovering from a double mastectomy, told me she had a horse with health issues the vet could not resolve. So I went along to give her horse healing, and subsequently its physical health issues and behaviour improved. Soon, I had as many animal clients coming to me for healing treatments as I had human ones. I decided to read up about animal healing, but soon discovered there was not one book solely on this topic. And while many healers did work with animals from time to time, no-one was specialising in treating them. In fact it seemed to me that most considered it a second-rate option. How times have changed!


Healing in NHS hospitals
Angie Buxton-King

The experience of personal tragedy provided me with the motivation to spread the use of reiki and spiritual healing to support cancer patients. My experience with my late son Sam during his illness (1995?1998) continues to drive me to help provide a healing service at the ?coal face?. I have been employed for the last 11 years by University College London Hospital (UCLH) as a healer working with cancer patients. Since 2003 I have managed the complementary therapy team within cancer services at UCLH.


The White Knight and The Princess
William House

Every new government tests itself against the NHS. And so it is with fairy tales in which suitors for the hand of the princess are put to the test. Our latest white knight?s tactic is bold indeed: drastic solutions for drastic times! He has seen that the princess has been imprisoned since childhood.