Article February 2, 2004 Issue

The art of healing

By Mario Tosto

The Advancing Course Of Science has empowered medical practice to the extent that medicine of a hundred years ago now seems barbaric. Today's view on some of the more egregious commonplace treatments back then has led one researcher of medical practices in the nineteenth century, Penny Hansen, to write, "Americans who turned away from the regular medical establishment were acting rationally."

And yet, with modern medicine so scientifically based and apparently effective, why are there indicators of a growing interest in alternative healing? In 2002, for instance, 43 percent of Americans used some form of alternative or complimentary medicine. And in 2001, 75 of the 125 medical schools in the US offered courses on spirituality and health.

Marcia Guntzel Feldman, faculty for Harvard Medical School's annual "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" symposium, told me this course has been one of the medical school's most popular for the past 12 years. Instituted by Dr. Herbert Benson, whose own research had shown clearly there is an connection between thought and healing, the Harvard event draws hundreds of participants from near and far.

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