HMOs And Spiritual Healing

A somewhat surprising trend in recent years has been the growing number of partnerships between spiritual healers and health maintenance organizations. Long considered bastions of "traditional" medical practice, HMOs are making room in their facilities for a host of complementary therapies. This trend comes in tandem with a growing sensibility that the best outcomes for illness or injury generally come about when the treatment involves a holistic approach to health care, encompassing the mind, the body and the spirit as one cohesive unit.

Spiritual healing is, by definition, the use of non-physical means to treat illness or affliction. Sometimes referred to as "faith healing," spiritual healing is a type of treatment generally considered to be classified as "alternative" or non-traditional. Yet the roots of spiritual healing go back for centuries, and some form of this treatment have been shown to exist is almost every culture known to history.

At its core, spiritual healing involves channeling a type of energy from one person, the "healer," to another. Practitioners claim that this energy can help to heal or alleviate physical, mental or spiritual ailments. The healer is generally thought to be a medium for the healing powers that are coming from a higher power, or spirit.
Other forms of spiritual healing include prayer or meditation healing, in which there is not channeler, or healer, but the energy comes directly to the person asking for the healing.

In recent years, there have been a number of scientific studies aimed at determining if spiritual healing can indeed bring out physical health. In Dr. Daniel J.Benor's book "Spiritual healing: Scientific Validation of a Healing Revolution," the author claims to have begun his investigation as skeptical as many of us. The book takes a close look at a number of different methodologies for healing, including Reiki, healing touch, Bowen method, and others. The results of his research made a believer out of him, and the 100-plus studies cited in the book offer verifiable proof that many of these spiritual healing therapies do have a restorative and recuperative effect on health and well-being.

Many spiritual healers are quick to acknowledge that traditional medicine does have its place, and that spiritual healing should be used in tandem with more traditional medical therapies. But these same practitioners will likely tell you that physical cures alone are insufficient for lasting well-being. It's important to consider the mind, the spirit and the body as one comprehensive whole when attempting any healing therapy. Ignoring one in favor of the other will result in incomplete healing at best, and liken the chances for a worse outcome for the patient.

And health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, are taking note. In a 1995 article in the New York Times, Philip Hilts cited a conference during which the president of Harvard Medical School reported a growing number of inquiries from HMOs that were looking to expand their use of such non-traditional treatments as relaxation and other non-traditional methods. Those original handful of calls are now numbering in the thousands, as health care organizations seek the most effective ways to treat their patients as complete human beings.

More and more physicians now agree with the trend, and many general practices now offer some kind of non-physical, or spiritual, treatment options. Anxiety, stress, depression, anger issues, addictive behaviors; it is widely thought by spiritual healers that all of these can be successful addressed through spiritual healing.

If you are interested in adding a spiritual component to your health care options, talk to your doctor. Some HMOs are allowing these costs to be covered under their insurance plans, and many will offer participating healers or practitioners.