Search for Health Should Include Spirit

First published on the Redlands Daily Facts.

I've noticed more discussion lately on who should be in charge of decisions regarding patient care - the patient or the physician - and whether a patient's religious beliefs affect that care.

Along those lines, I recently had the opportunity to join representatives of other faiths at Loma Linda University School of Dentistry and answer questions about each of our religious beliefs - especially those beliefs that might be important to a person's treatment. The experience was interesting and I'm grateful for the invitation to participate.

During my presentation, I was reminded of an interview that I had conducted three weeks ago with a University of California, Los Angeles, medical doctor. This doctor, Margaret Stuber, is directing a national project funded by the Templeton Group Foundation to develop tools for physicians and chaplains to work together in providing health care that addresses the whole individual. During our visit, I asked what she thought was the biggest impediment to this type of care, and she stated, "that the professional wants to dictate what the patient needs."

She indicated that until the patient was allowed to make the choice of what was needed and why, treating the whole person would be difficult.

The good news is that more professionals are expressing interest in considering the whole person, not just the physical side, whatever treatment is chosen. Deepak Chopra, MD, feels that the treatment of the whole person (mind-body-spiritual) is long overdue. His view is that the search for excellence in health should include alternative or complementary therapies. This idea is supported by a 2002 NIH study about the 10 most used complementary therapies. Of these therapies, prayer was the most used at 43 percent.

In another study it was found that from 2002 to 2007 the use of prayer had increased to 47 percent.

While the use of prayer is on the rise, other complementary therapies are frequently in the news, such as the use of natural products, chiropractic, yoga, massage, and diets. Yet, the sum of the percentages for these other therapies doesn't equal the percentage of individuals considering the use of prayer. The acceptance of the link between spirituality and health is shown in U.S. medical schools. Of the 135 medical schools in the United States, 101 offered spirituality and health courses in 2005.

Loma Linda University and UCLA aren't the only universities that are paying attention to the mind-body-spiritual aspects of the individual.

As Chopra in "Medicine's Great Divide - the View from the Alternative Side" states about the mystery of healing, "If we combine wisdom and science, tradition and research, mind and body, there is every hope that the mystery will reveal its secrets more and more fully."

For me, personally, I have found turning to prayer a great help in resolving family, health, and professional needs.

Donald W. Ingwerson is the media and government relations for Christian Science in Southern California.