60% of annual deaths worldwide are caused by chronic disease. Let me repeat that – 60% of the people who die each year do so because of mostly preventable chronic disease. More people die every year because of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and COPD (to name just a few) than any other cause. […]
NICABM Celebrates Its Last Conference
What an exhilarating journey this has been! When we first started our conference in 1988, Mind/Body Medicine was hardly on the map. And now, it has an undisputed presence. It’s gratifying to see hospitals and universities in almost every state incorporating mind/ body medicine into their programs and curriculum. I’d like to think that NICABM […]
PTSD and ADHD – Are We Misdiagnosing?
I came across a study in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect that disturbed me. Victor Carrion, MD led a team of Stanford University researchers who looked at children living in a poor, violent neighborhood. This study built on past findings which associated worsening adult health to their childhood exposure to nine types of adverse […]
Spotlight on Application: How to Treat Human Trafficking Survivors
Imagine being far from home. You were promised a good (or at least better) paying job that would allow you to support your children back home. Instead, you find yourself working in a brothel, servicing up to 20 “clients” a day out of fear that your traffickers will hurt your family if you try to […]
Can a Brain Pacemaker be used to Treat Depression?
The first implantable pacemaker was designed in 1958 to treat heart arrhythmias. But what about a brain pacemaker for depression? What if we could use that 50 year-old cardiology device to treat modern day depression? Dr. John Zajecka of the Rush University Medical Center and his team used a pacemaker-like implant to treat patients with […]
Compassion Fatigue: How to Treat Yourself so that You Can Treat Your Patients
I’ve been talking a lot about trauma and trauma prevention in the past weeks, yet there is one group of individuals with a potential risk of traumatization who I haven’t yet discussed: you. Anyone in the health or mental health community inherently knows about compassion fatigue, even if you don’t know the official definitions. How […]
Which Symptoms of PTSD Cause the Most Damage?
Understanding the damage caused by certain symptoms may help us improve the quality of life for patients with PTSD. Lori Zoellner PhD, Director of the University of Washington’s Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress, published a study in the Journal of Psychiatric Services. By interviewing 184 people seeking treatment for PTSD, she found specific symptoms […]
Therapeutic Touch and its Effectiveness in Treating Anxiety
Do you know someone who has struggled to break free from anxiety? According to a study conducted by Patricia Heidt, Ph.D., R.N., therapeutic touch could bring a new dimension to their healing. In this study, published in Nursing Research, Dr. Heidt looked at the effectiveness of therapeutic touch on 90 subjects’ anxiety levels in a […]
Can a Broken Heart Lead to Cardiovascular Problems?
Is it possible that attachment issues can have a significant impact on the development of disease? A new study, published in Health Psychology, took a look at adult attachment and it’s link to health conditions. Lachlan McWilliams, PhD of Acadia University in Nova Scotia, department of psychology, studied 5,645 adults between the ages of 18 […]
Spotlight on Application: Building Stress Resilience and Countering Bullying with Roots of Empathy
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it about a million times: theory is necessary, but then application – application – application! Sarah, a member of our staff, lived in Canada, where she was given a brochure soon after her daughter’s birth. The brochure talked about a volunteer program, using caregivers and infants, that helped […]