HEALING AND MEDICINE

This is one of three books in this issue by physicians engaged with the nature of healing energy (the others are in Books in Brief), and in each case personal experience plays a critical role. Paul was medically trained and chose to specialise in rheumatology, rising to a successful position at the University of Bristol. At various points in the book, he discusses the conditioning effects of his biomedical training mindset, and how this created cognitive dissonance with his immediate experiences of healing both given and received. He comes to recognise both the success and limitations of biomedicine, calling for the integration of the art of healing with the science of curing. This is a timely reminder that medicine is both an art and science, representing as it does the relationship between physician and patient, which is in danger of being objectified through AI, reinforcing the already dominant mechanistic metaphor. Behind this is the materialistic dismissal of anything deemed unscientific, and the assumption that the brain gives rise to consciousness. Paul comes to question this and to advocate consciousness as fundamental both in terms of healing but also through evidence of paranormal and spiritual experiences.

An early influence was sitting in on an extraordinary consultation with Dr Harold Wykeham Balme, a textbook illustration of how to relate warmly to your patient with an understanding of their overall life situation, which used to be the case with the family GP. Paul writes about ‘the importance of humane, caring, compassionate interactions and healthcare.’ He himself was surprised to learn that a prayer meeting seemed to have played a role in his good recovery following a rugby injury; then later on that healing was evidently a key factor for a number of his patients. His instinct was to look for a ‘rational explanation’ and to explain such cases away. In 1990, Paul went through the traumatic and life-changing experience of being a hostage in Kuwait and Iraq. On the one hand he witnessed atrocities, but on the other, the human contact with his fellows buoyed him up, and he experienced a strong feeling of loss and that his father was trying to communicate with them – it turned out that this was dying at the time. In retrospect, he realises that this incident had caused ‘soul separation’ and it marked a change of orientation in his career.

This leads into the second section of the book investigating the nature of energy healing and how it is understood by healers, patients and the public. Each chapter gives background, case histories, some interviews, research results, and concluding observations plus a bibliography. In relation to the placebo response, Paul observes that ‘the negative effects (nocebo) of invalidation were much more powerful than the beneficial effects of validation’ – a point that clinicians need to take on board. He describes the healing of his knee, and discovers on a course that healers all feel that they are channelling an external energy, ‘a positive, loving flow of clear intent.’ (p. 82) He describes a striking case where he himself heals a horse, connecting with it to such an extent that he describes that they are the same being. Afterwards, he feels exhausted, and has a bad stomach ache, only then learning that the horse was having problems with its stomach and digestion.

This section ranges over many different modalities, including shamanism, bone setting, animals as healers, and homoeopathy, where Paul feels that many practitioners are also skilled healers. He conducts research in Lourdes, which leads him to reflect on the interventions as ‘nourishing exchanges,’ and the relationships between religion, belief, prayer and healing. Healers themselves refer to energy balance and flow, focused attention, connection, trust, and concentrating on love and compassion – the key points are summarised on p. 140. Another healer talks about the Green Road – ‘all you need is trees, water, stones and animals.’ Paul also considers the role of art as another form of the sense of connection.

The third part addresses the theme of integration, warning against hubris and the straitjacket of medical scientism, and talking about the challenge of ‘coming out’ about healing and being accused of being unscientific. He comments that there is huge pressure to conform and almost no room for dissent. He also discusses the medicalisation of emotions and behaviours, the influence of the pharmaceutical industry, and other issues connected with money and bureaucracy. To him, the greatest problem is the lack of emphasis on caring, compassion and humanity in healthcare. In differentiating the art of healing from the science of curing, he advocates a both-and approach, helpfully describing how healthcare professionals can facilitate healing in practical terms (p. 210). He sees the need for changes in values, attitudes, education and practices to humanise medicine and move it away from being purely ‘a business based on a single, flawed belief system.’

Paul’s personal journey recounted in the book is deeply transformative, both in terms of worldview and implications for clinical practice. He concludes that we are all part of a universe that we do not understand, the basic essence of which is consciousness, information and love – we are not therefore isolated beings, and healing is journey towards wholeness. As many of the endorsements state, this book is essential reading for physicians as a means of expanding their horizons, but it is hugely informative and equally accessible to the general reader.