Editorial January 16, 1995 Issue

Basis for healing—physical diagnosis or the truth of being?

Russ Gerber

If people believe that the physical symptoms of some disorder must be linked to a material cause, it's easy to see why they are inclined to want a physical diagnosis of disease. It would appear to be how we get to the root of bodily ailments.

Yet, many good thinkers today are making the case for a mind–body connection—suggesting that the cause of some, if not many or all, physical ailments can be traced to the human mind. It's a view that is gaining wider acceptance. With that acceptance we're seeing more and more mental techniques entering the mainstream of treatment. The headline of a cover story in USA Today cited relaxation techniques and some forms of meditation as "Today's way to transcend world's woes" (July 28, 1994).

It appears we're fast approaching—or have already reached—a critical fork in the road when it comes to diagnosis. Where do we look for the cause of physical ailments? Should we be examining material elements or mental elements? Is the choice clearly one or the other, or some combination of both? There's also the question of a remedy—is it material or mental, or both? Or is it something else?

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