Not long ago I had an email exchange with Dr. Pamela Wible, a physician in Eugene, about the recent documentary Escape Fire. The movie examines the problems with health care in the United States, and possible solutions.

Unhappy with the “conveyor belt” system of medicine that she had found herself in since medical school, “pushing pills into patients as they flew past me,” Dr. Wible got off the racetrack and stopped to consider what kind of health care system she wanted to work in.

The first step towards building her new medical practice was holding town hall meetings to see what patients wanted in a community health clinic. She describes her experience in building her practice around patient values for health in her recent book, Pet Goats and Pap Smears.

Because Escape Fire points out systemic issues that confronted Dr. Wible, I thought it would be instructive to discuss these with a physician in the trenches.

John: Several prominent physicians were interviewed in the film: Andrew Weil, Don Berwick, Dean Ornish, and Steven Nissen. They are pretty critical of our current health care system. Do you agree with their assessment?

Pamela: Yes. We have a disease billing system, not a health care system.

John: It was said in the movie that “conventional medicine suppresses symptoms which just keeps disease going. Do you agree with this view of conventional medicine?

Pamela: Yes, but conventional medicine is fabulous with trauma and tertiary care. We fail at chronic disease and certainly we lack the training to deal with the most prevalent health problem in America: Despair. Despair is at the root of self-destructive behaviors such as overeating, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.

John: How do you measure health outcomes?

Pamela: By helping patients become self-actualized and fulfilled human beings. I don’t spend my time forcing them into algorithms that conflict with their values. I invite patients to define their own health goals. I align my care with their goals, not mine, and certainly not the system’s goals. We have an innate ability to heal ourselves.

John: It was also said that the interventions we depend on in our health care system depend on expensive technology (imaging etc.), and that includes pharmaceuticals. Do you agree with this?

Pamela: Yes. We have a high-tech, low-touch model. When I ask citizens in town halls to describe ideal health care, they describe the reverse. They prefer high-touch, low-tech care when possible. We breed dependency on a high-tech, complex system. The basic message to patients is that the answer to their problems is outside of themselves (in pills, doctors, machines). This is disempowering and dangerous. When I listen long enough, patients will reveal their real core issues. Unfortunately, we do not take the time to get to the root of their problems in ten-minute visits.

Dr. Pamela Wible
Photo used with permission

John: Seems to me that primary care physicians as the hub around which specialty care is provided would be the ideal model.

Pamela: YES!! YES!! YES!! We spend far too much time caring for the system, caring for profits, caring for insurance companies and third parties. Caring for patients and doctors is no longer the priority. 1) We need a simplified model. 2) We need ethical human beings at the helm. WITHOUT these elements, all models will fail. We need a spiritual awakening in health care. We are holistic human beings, not reductionist robots. Escape Fire, reveals the failure of our patriarchal, reductionist medical model. Though holistic therapies are suggested as the solution, the film primarily interviews male physicians and fails to showcase female physicians or innovative health care solutions developed by women in medicine.

The film was heavily focused on the “problems” we face in health care, yet did not offer a balanced perspective on solutions. We know the problems.

Dr. Wible makes quite a few important points about health care. I found her perspective on what female qualities can bring to health care interesting, especially since my own health care system was discovered by a woman, Mary Baker Eddy.

Even though Dr. Wible associates the qualities of nurturing, love, and compassion with women, I’m wondering if perhaps this is a way of highlighting these qualities. In her book she mentions men whom she respects, and who embrace a balance of male and female qualities.

It appears to me that problems in life arise when complementary elements such as male and female are divorced. Perhaps the whole nature of health care in this country could be readjusted and aligned by the recognition and reintegration of this balance. Caring, nurturing qualities are important to health care delivery, but not confined to one gender or the other.

In my reading of the Bible I’ve found it intriguing that the ‘great physician’, Christ Jesus, seemed to possess tough qualities, and yet expressed compassion and love in his healing ministry.

Pamela Wible is a doctor exploring these important issues and taking them seriously, introducing them into her practice with very positive results.

This piece was originally published on OregonLive last December not long after the shooting at Newtown, CT.  Emotions surrounding the shooting are still raw.  I thought it would be helpful to post my comments here, with a few changes to make it current.

@Glowimages

It’s never easy to see tragedies that undo lives and families and communities. In my 30 years of law enforcement I encountered plenty of this sort of thing. Our hearts go out to the community of Newtown, Connecticut, and to all parents and teachers across the country. It’s been over three months since the shooting and we are still challenged to find a way to address the unexplainable. Without some view of the nature of life that transcends all the shortcomings of the human experience I’m certain that I would be adrift in despair.

I have found, though, that in holding onto and affirming what, for me, are fundamental truths, I can find peace.

This is what I feel:

I don’t know why this happened in a cosmic sense, and it’s futile to try and figure it out. My heart says that God did not cause this tragedy, nor turn His back on us.

To me, God is the essence of goodness. And God is complete love. As such, I feel that God loves each one of us as His own creation, including all involved at Sandy Hook School. That love is still with those dear children and staff, embracing them and holding them close. They are with God. More importantly for those trying to cope with the aftermath, divine Love is closer than ever to comfort and strengthen families and communities.

I believe we must be more persevering in our search for solutions to prevent future violence, whether it involves one person or thousands of people. For me, it means praying to know that a loving and good God will guide our desires and actions towards finding solutions.

I, and others, might find ourselves letting go of some cherished beliefs and ideologies in this search for solutions, no matter how uncomfortable that makes us initially feel. Motivated by love for our children and our communities, embracing each other with more patience and attentiveness, we must find a way to work together toward that end.

I believe that being willing to pray for real solutions will bring them to us. We can still feel the “peace that passes all understanding” during this season and beyond by insisting that we will not become cynical and afraid, and knowing that God has not turned away. And when we do that we will find a way to hold these crimes in check.

@Glowimages

Simplifying our life seems to be getting more complicated. But never fear, there is an app for everything nowadays. Managing each aspect of the most intimate everyday details is being digitized through applications running on ever faster and smarter devices in astounding numbers.

Almost everyone I know owns one of those ubiquitous smartphones or tablets. They seem to be able to do everything a computer can, and then some.

The technological wonder of these devices is surely one reason for their popularity. They can perform more commands per second than the computers in Apollo 8 by an order of magnitude in the thousands. They are cheaper and have far more memory. And you can easily carry them in your pocket.

And then the proliferation of software written specifically for mobile devices has a lot to do with their popularity.

Individual applications, or “apps”, exist for every conceivable function and service. And there are thousands of them. Apple has approved for download more than one million apps. Consumers have downloaded apps from their store more than 25 billion times. The Android download numbers are impressive too.

Managing health has not escaped this trend.

According to Research2Guidance, a global market research firm, nearly 247 million mobile phone users worldwide are expected to download a health app by the end of 2012. There are as many apps to manage health functions as there are health issues: losing weight, monitoring blood pressure or diabetes, exercising and so on.

There is even a proliferation of apps to assist physicians in making quick and accurate diagnoses and prescribing indicated treatments.

Are all these apps on our mobile devices the ultimate in making us healthier?

One person who might not think so is Dr. Marc Siegel, MD. Through a personal crisis he discovered a phenomenon he calls the inner pulse. It’s an awareness, or “sense”, about what’s happening with one’s body. He says it’s :

“… the fulcrum of a person’s life force, the place where the physical and the spiritual combine. It is the link between your body’s life force and your soul, tangible proof of your connection to a larger reality and of that reality’s strong presence in your body.”

“The inner pulse is more than just instinct and intuition.”… “Clearly, being aware of the inner pulse can change your life dramatically in a positive way.” (pg. 15)

Perhaps, though, the inner pulse, as Siegel describes it, goes beyond being aware of what’s lurking in our body. The inner pulse may not just tell us what condition the body is in, but may be able to affect health in a dramatically positive way, if we know how to access it.

Olympic skier Janine Shepherd tells the story of her remarkable return from a biking accident that left her paralyzed, yet she went on to a whole new life as a pilot. Told that she would never walk again, she asked, “Why me?” But at her lowest point she began to realize that it wasn’t just about her life. It was about life itself. She began to see that she was not her broken body. In the uncertainty of her circumstances, she found that she was free to explore life’s infinite possibilities. She felt she was responding to a spirit that was bigger than she was.

One day she looked up and saw an airplane flying overhead and said, “That’s it! If I can’t walk, I’ll fly.” She started by taking a flying lesson and went on to learn to walk again, to fly a plane and then to become a flight instructor.

Janine’s experience shows that there is an unmeasurable spirit that can bring out strength and ability far beyond what an app would be able to measure in the body. I call that God, and don’t ever want to underestimate the power it can have to restore a measure of health when human hope is gone.

The Bible says:

“There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the almighty gives them understanding… Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. (Job 32, Ps. 139)

Janine may know nothing about these Bible passages, but her life certainly embodies the energies of what I call a spiritual sense. I believe this spirit is available for everyone to tap into and receive an impulse like Janine did. Perhaps Dr. Siegel’s “inner pulse” is another way of naming this resource.

I haven’t yet found an app to make that link, but when I do, I will definitely let you know.

I’ve noticed an increase in the number of people on street corners asking for money the last several years. I have to admit that sometimes cynicism nags at me in response to the plea scribbled on a piece of cardboard in their hand.

“Anything will help. God bless”

Other times I just feel bad for the person holding the sign.  On rare occasions I actually give them some money.   I can’t explain why some people struck a chord with me and some didn’t.

Model used for illustrative purposes only © Glow Images

Why would I pass judgment on the individuals standing there– deciding some are worthy and some are not?  And what makes one worthy of my noticing them with compassion?  Does it matter if they’re married or have kids or not?  If they are an alcoholic?  If they have mental illness?  Or if they are truly a victim of economic circumstances leaving them down and out?

Consistency is important to me. I’m working towards a steady attitude of unconditional compassion for all mankind.

Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) has an important message for me.  It presents a moral imperative to show compassion for those whom we might consider unworthy.

That a Samaritan  (considered by ancient Jews to be an impure group) would stop to help a Jew who was in trouble, was unthinkable by social norms of the day. Perhaps one point Jesus was making in the story is that the Jew was worthy of the Samaritan’s compassion, not because he deserved it, but because he needed it.

Nothing in this parable suggests that another must deserve my compassion, or that I should get anything in return for my benevolence.

Then why do it? Does feeling and acting compassionately have any reward, even a sense of satisfaction for having felt and done something for someone else? In the traditional Christian moral paradigm, compassion and giving might be considered a prerequisite for going to heaven.

But what about the here and now?

I know that when I feel compassion for others, and act selflessly on it, I feel a sense of peace and inner happiness.  But research is finding that’s not all.

At the University of Michigan, professor of medicine Bertram Pitt MD, has found that forgiveness and regular acts of kindness do contribute to people’s overall happiness.

Studies on altruism, however, suggest that happiness is not the only benefit. A study of 2,700 residents of Tecumseh, Michigan, found that men who volunteered in their community were two and a half times less likely to die than non-volunteering men.

Tia Rich, Ph.D., Director of Stanford CARES (Compassion, Awareness, and Relationship Skills to Ease Stress), spoke with BeWell about the relationship between compassion and health. She says that: “… Compassion … can be expressed between strangers or even enemies…” such as was illustrated with the Good Samaritan.

She goes on: “In 2008, compassion’s role was the focus of researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison who reported the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies conducted on Tibetan Buddhist monks with more than 10,000 hours of compassion mediation experience. The research suggested that the experienced monks had greater awareness and attention to emotional stimuli and had a greater compassionate response to those stimuli. These findings suggest that compassion’s effect…may be a mechanism by which the stress response is reduced and health is promoted.”

K. C. Blair, Founder and Director of Good Samaritans International, says: “I never thought as a scientist I would find myself saying this, but our research data has led to our conclusion that compassion creates healing and maintains health.”

A freelance writer, breast cancer survivor, and frequent contributor to CNN, Amanda Anita, writes in her blog “How to deal with mean people”:

“Indeed, a slew of studies confirm that kinder people tend to live longer and lead healthier lives; volunteers have fewer aches and pains; and compassionate people are more likely to be healthier and successful.”

Whether or not you feel an obligation to love your neighbor as yourself, as I do, compassion for others can make life better for them.  And it can also improve your own longevity and health. But, as anyone knows who tries to practice compassion, it isn’t about logic and head games, but about expanding the heart. Many of those who make compassion their way of life understand this.

When Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist from the University of Wisconsin, began studying the effects of compassion meditation in 1992, he traveled to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery and attached electrodes to the head of an expert meditation practitioner. He was surprised when the other monks began laughing.“I thought it was because he looked so funny with the electrodes attached to him,” Davidson recalled. But it turned out the monks were amused that he was trying to study the effects of compassion by attaching the electrodes to the practitioner’s head, rather than his heart.

I’ve imagined that doctors are good at taking care of themselves, and that they’re a healthy lot.  After all, they’re smart people.  Their discipline and training are more rigorous than most professions. They are dedicated to helping people get well and stay well, and I assumed that included them.

It appears that I’m not alone in this point of view. Merry N. Miller writes in Medscape News about what we think doctors should be.

Physicians are expected to be healers, available to others whenever a crisis occurs or a medical need arises. They are expected to have unfailing expertise and competence, to be compassionate and concerned, and to provide universally successful care in a cost-effective manner.

Many doctors do fulfill this image, and most doctors have a healthy diet, don’t smoke, and they exercise. But in spite of, or perhaps because of what we expect physicians to be, those in the healing arts suffer high rates of mental distress.  And paying so much attention to the bottom line can sometimes turn health care into a stress-filled industry for the care giver.

iStockphoto/WillSelarep

Dr. Pamela Wible in Eugene was part of that rat race in the early years of her career.  Here’s how she describes it in her new book Pet Goats and Pap Smears:

“I felt like a factory worker pushing pills into patients as they flew past me on a conveyor belt.  I tried other jobs, but they were all the same—assembly-line medicine.  Doctoring was dumbed down to a numbers game with cookbook care if they had no insurance or if they took too long to express themselves.

After ten years on the treadmill, I was tired of being rude to people and neglecting myself—all in the name of health care.”

Spending so much time trying to help others can come at the expense of a doctor’s own  health needs. The consequences of this contradiction are sometimes tragic.

The father of one of my best friends in college was a specialist physician. His family lived in a nice neighborhood and from what I could tell, they were happy.  At one point I learned that his father went through “the cure” for alcoholism. Tragically, he later took his own life.

At the time I thought this was unusual.  Unfortunately, I was wrong. Research shows that physicians have high rates of failed marriages, severe depression, substance abuse, and suicide — one of the highest rates of all professions.

The few who have taken a close look at this problem posit that, while alcohol and drug abuse is sometimes a problem, harsh self-criticism and a perfectionist personality can make some doctors neglect to get help for themselves when it’s needed.

But, do doctors have to be healthy to properly care for their patients?

As Wible so aptly puts it:

“If doctors are victims, patients learn to be victims.  If doctors are discouraged, patients learn to be discouraged.”

Wible’s story doesn’t end in tragedy, though. There was a mental shift that occurred.

It was her sense of compassion for patients that allowed her to break out of her own despair and the rut that can be destructive to the wellbeing of our caregivers.

What she did was revolutionary.  She set up town hall meetings for would-be patients to give them a chance to tell her what their ideal community clinic would look like.  From their 100 pages of input,  she built a community clinic embracing many of the ideas she heard.

She built her practice around a compassionate, caring relationship with her patients that started with the town hall meetings and listening to their needs.

Research is now finding that “relationships” are at the core of a more complex dynamic that has a significant impact on health. These are called “therapeutic relationships” and they directly affect patient response to physician prescriptions.

Some of Wible’s favorite prescriptions, described in her book, are:  “take a vacation to the coast; go on a seven-day silent retreat in the woods; stop worrying; go on a media fast for a week; fall in love with yourself; speak your truth; see an energy healer”… and so on.

She’s helping patients get healthy by addressing their thought.  It appears that her practice of spending time with patients, listening to them deeply, and caring about them allows her to get at their real health issues.

Getting back to her core values for patients, listening to them deeply and compassionately, and not just being a pharmaceutical dispensary nor quickly processing patients through her clinic, she is now happy and fulfilled in her medical practice.

Could it be that by meeting deeper patient needs, Wible has found a way to fulfill the ancient biblical admonition, “Physician, heal thyself?” (Luke 4:23)

By putting the patient at the center of compassionate health care, might it help other practitioners to be more healthy, too?

As author Monica Dougherty puts it: “Compassion is really about loving yourself first and then others.  Loving means wanting the best for everyone.”

It’s never easy to see tragedies that undo lives and families and communities. In my 30 years of law enforcement I encountered  plenty of this sort of thing.  Our hearts go out to the community of Newtown, Connecticut, and to all parents and teachers across the country.  And yet, as we enter the season of good will and peace on earth, we are challenged to find a way to address the unexplainable. Without some view of the nature of life that transcends all the shortcomings of the human experience I’m certain that I would be adrift in despair.

©iStockphoto/adl21

I have found, though, that in holding onto and affirming what, for me, are fundamental truths, I can find peace.

This is what I feel:

I don’t know why this happened in a cosmic sense, and it’s futile to try and figure it out. My heart says that God did not cause this tragedy, nor turn His back on us.

To me, God is the essence of goodness. And God is complete love.   As such, I feel that God loves each one of us as His own creation, including all involved at Sandy Hook School. That love is still with those dear children and staff, embracing them and holding them close. They are with God.  More importantly for those trying to cope with the aftermath, divine Love is closer than ever to comfort and strengthen families and communities.

I believe we must be more persevering in our search for solutions to prevent future violence, whether it involves one person or thousands of people.  For me, it means praying to know that a loving and good God will guide our desires and actions towards finding solutions.

I, and others, might find ourselves letting go of some cherished beliefs and ideologies in this search for solutions, no matter how uncomfortable that makes us initially feel. Motivated by love for our children and our communities, embracing each other with more patience and attentiveness, we must find a way to work together toward that end.

I believe that being willing to pray for real solutions will bring them to us.   We can still feel the “peace that passes all understanding” during this season and beyond by insisting that we will not become cynical and afraid, and knowing that God has not turned away.  And when we do that we will find a way to hold these crimes in check.

First published on OregonLive

John Clague is a retired sheriff’s office captain, father of two grown sons, and husband. He now works with the media to ensure accurate representation of Christian Science.

As a father, I remember many times assembling toys for my children. Some of them were complicated and required carefully following the provided instructions. My mechanical intuition just wasn’t adequate.

In the end, when I patiently followed the steps for putting these toys together, I was happy and my kids were happy.

There are other areas in life, too, where following some steps brings about good results.

Sven Eberlein, a freelance writer and journalist in San Francisco has come up with what he calls 9 Simple Steps to Improve Your Health, all of which are supported by research. His list was published in Daily Good, News That Inspires.

© iStockphoto/ marrio31

Health is probably something most people are interested in. Some approach improving their physical health as a two-step process. One, go to the doctor. Two, do what the doctor says. Pretty simple.

Other people find this doesn’t always work for them.

Even though Eberlein’s approach has more steps, it does more than help us stay healthier.  It can enrich our lives in other ways as well.

Several of his steps stand out to me. They are:

Laugh to your heart’s delight.

“Laughter might be one of the only things in life that can be done outside of moderation and still reap the benefits,” muses Dr. Michael Miller, director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Age artfully

Research shows that seniors engaged in activities like singing, creative writing, or painting are healthier and happier than those who aren’t.

Work with friends

Israeli researchers found that people who get along with their co-workers in a friendly and supportive work environment live longer.

Chat with the neighbors

A 50-year study centered around Roseto, Penn., a close-knit community of Italian-Americans, showed the lowest rates of heart disease in the nation until the town became more “suburbanized” in the 1960s.

Hope like your life depends on it

We know enough about anxiety and depression to drag us down for several lifetimes, but a truly uplifting new study by Harvard’s School of Public Health gives reasons to rejoice. “Happy and optimistic people with a purpose in life tend to have a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease,” says researcher Julia K. Boehm.

This is an expansive list of steps for improving your health. But I’m wondering if it’s complete.  Could there be a spiritual step to a healthy life?

Journalist Richard Schiffman writes that “…regular prayer and meditation has been shown in numerous scientific studies to be an important factor in living longer and staying healthy.”

This seems like a nice complement to the list above. Even though Schiffman has found recent research to support prayer as a path to health, this is not a new idea.

In the nineteenth century, health researcher and theologian, Mary Baker Eddy, made these same observations. Beyond demonstrating that prayer has a health benefit, she showed that prayer in and of itself could be approached through a reasoned process, beginning with a premise and reaching conclusion. Through this process she found the elements of prayer that heal consistently.

For a complex issue like health, going beyond the two-step to include more of the emotional and spiritual elements may be a way to a happier, healthier life.

First published on OregonLive.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, probably because it’s a time to especially acknowledge the gratitude I feel for all the good in my life.

A dictionary might define this term, thanksgiving, as “an act of giving thanks”, but I think it means more than that. It goes beyond uttering words of thanks to expressing it in concrete ways. It’s more action oriented and isn’t focused on me. Rather, my gratitude should impel action.

There are many examples of people selflessly helping others. I think immediately of incidents like:

Hundreds of boat owners and ferry pilots converging on the Manhattan shoreline to evacuate stranded New Yorkers after the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

People in my community working at food banks and soup kitchens for the homeless.

Victor Frankl observing fellow prisoners of war coping through simple acts of sharing and encouragement.

©iStockphoto/guvendemir

These are people engaging in helping acts with no expectation of anything in return.

Why do we do it if there’s no expectation of reciprocal acts of kindness or money?

As a Christian, I might see The Golden Rule as a motivator out of obedience. And for those of other faith traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism there are similar guiding principles. But is this really what motivates adherents of any tradition to act for the benefit of others?

In examining my own impulses along this line I feel moved to do for others because I’m grateful for the good in my life which I feel comes from God. Perhaps giving to others as an expression of gratitude is the Divine working in the lives of others.

This could be why an unexpected result appears for the giver: it’s good for your health.

Stephen G. Post, PhD. has been researching this notion that helping others is actually beneficial to the helper. In his report It’s Good to be Good: 2011 Fifth Annual Scientific Report on Health, Happiness and Helping Others, Post makes these observations.

“My working hypothesis is that one of the healthiest things a person can do is to step back from self-preoccupation and self-worry, as well as from hostile and bitter emotions; there is no more obvious way of doing this than focusing attention on helping others.

“There is solid evidence to support the perennial hypothesis that benevolent emotions, attitudes, and actions centered on the good of others contribute to the giver’s happiness, health, and even longevity. Although genuine benevolence must be chiefly motivated by concern for others, it has the side effect of nourishing the giver.”

Linda P. Fried, M.D., director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins found that : “Older adults who volunteer in troubled urban schools not only improve the educational experience of children, but realize meaningful improvements in their own mental and physical health.”

Perhaps a good example of this is the Catholic nun who volunteered in our local jail for many years. She devoted her life to helping those in trouble with the law to better themselves through various programs. Last time I checked she was well over 90 years old and still going strong!

Robert A. Barnett says that “We consistently find that volunteering and helping behavior is associated with a reduced risk of mortality. We see this over and over again in prospective studies that control for other variables, such as baseline health and gender.”

Thinking about this more deeply, what if more of us worked harder to love and help out our fellow women and men? I mean really approach them with compassion, forgiveness, and a longing for their well-being impelled by gratitude for all the good in our lives. Might it make us feel better? Perhaps we would live in healthier, more connected communities.

The implications are profound. I make it an axiom that I can never be harmed by helping others. Now, I see it actually helps my health, too.

First published on OregonLive.

We can choose virtually any product or service we want. Any size, shape, color, or model. Except when it comes to our health care.

It seems to me from much of what I’ve read that the patient-doctor relationship is mostly unbalanced. The doctor tells the patient what’s wrong, and what needs to happen to fix it. Our health care system forces doctors to quickly address the offending symptoms and move on.

In the United States more is spent per patient on health care than in any other developed country in the world.

For all the wonders of our nation, its unparalleled standard of living and freedom of choice, does this ensure that we are the healthiest country with the longest lifespan?

The United States came in at 37th place in the World Health Organization’s assessment of overall health outcomes of all nations in 2010. According to the CIA World Factbook, the U.S. currently ranks 50th for life expectancy. In 1950 we ranked 5th for women and 10th for men.

According to Gallup Polls, “Americans’ evaluations of healthcare coverage…show that much less than a majority of Americans are positive in their overall evaluations of coverage and cost of their healthcare.”

@ iStockphoto/Tom Hahn

Could it be that people are not satisfied because they don’t have much voice in their health care? Are their care expectations being met?

Shannon Brownlee makes the point in her book Overtreated. Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer, that:

Strengthening the patient’s role in choosing a particular treatment or test is an important aspect of moving toward more efficient care. (pg.. 297)

A health care system allowing a more responsive patient-doctor relationship could provide for more effective two-way communication. The doctor could better understand the underlying causes of the patient’s symptoms and the patient could actually choose treatment options that fit better within his or her values.

Emerging aids to facilitate this process are decision tools that help patients make their own choices about health care. As Brownlee points out:

“…informing patients better, will very likely decrease overutilization rates:…clinical trials show that the use of decision aids leads to a decline in demand for surgery ——- about 25 percent overall.” (pg. 298)

Fewer tests and invasive procedures would lower costs and reduce the risk of adverse consequences.

This appears to be a central theme in shifting our health care delivery system. In her paper Emerging Patient-Driven Health Care Models Melanie Swan makes the observation that “The growing presence of patient-driven health care models may be central to the evolving health ecosystem. Individuals are starting to better manage their health.”

Within those models can be included all manner of alternative and integrative care. The whole patient needs to be attended to, including mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs.

In the late 1800s spiritual healer Mary Baker Eddy introduced a form of health care that puts the patient’s needs at the center of their care. She explains in her major work, Science and Health:

“Give sick people credit for sometimes knowing more than their doctors. Always support their trust in the power of Mind to sustain the body. Never tell the sick that they have more courage than strength. Tell them rather, that their strength is in proportion to their courage.” (pg. 417)

Patient-centered health care starts with our thoughts, whether they’re using a decision aid regarding the conventional health care paradigm, or addressing the connection between thinking and bodily health. Certainly better decision-making in a medical system is a good thing.

Is it reasonable to conclude that spending more time discovering the patient’s mental state and behaviors determined by their thoughts, and encouraging and strengthening the healthier thoughts, could be the basis for improved health?

Originally published on OregonLive

John Clague is a retired sheriff’s office captain, father of two grown sons, and husband. He now works with the media to ensure accurate representation of Christian Science.

There are some parts of our life, however, that we might not want to stay the same.

Perhaps we’d like to get rid of those extra pounds we’ve been lugging around. Or maybe we feel a change in employment would be a good thing.

Some people would like to change their relationship with chronic pain. Unrelenting pain that they come to expect day in and day out. It has become an integral part of their life.

©iStockphoto/Squaredpixels

Maia Szalavitz reports in TIME Healthland that “…serious, chronic pain affects at least 116 million Americans each year, many of whom are inadequately treated by the health- care system..”

There are many kinds of pain people may suffer from: headache, low back pain, arthritis pain, and pain without any identifiable source.

Another form of pain is “Fibromyalgia… a common syndrome in which a person has long-term, body-wide pain.

In the quest for relief from this national epidemic, many remedies have been offered, such as drugs (including marijuana), acupuncture, electrical stimulation, brain stimulation, and surgery. Placebos have been used, which sometimes have resulted in a lessening or elimination of pain. Psychotherapy, relaxation therapies, biofeedback, and behavior modification are also on the list of tried solutions.

Try as we may, nothing seems to adequately solve this public health problem. It results in millions, if not billions of dollars in lost worker productivity and health care costs.

Are these the only options for treating chronic pain?

Marilyn Baetz and Rudy Bowen looked at regular church attendance and spirituality as factors in treating chronic pain and found that they were associated with better psychological well-being. They conclude that frequency of religious worship attendance should be considered in the development of interventions to address pain.

Amy B. Wachholtz and Francis J. Keene of Duke University Medical Center support these conclusions in their own research into managing pain from migraine headaches.

“One recent study found that by using positive spiritual meditation [or prayer] twenty minutes a day, patients with frequent migraine headaches were able to improve their pain tolerance and reduce their frequency and severity…. This research indicates that patients with chronic pain conditions can be taught to use their existing spiritual resources in novel ways to reduce the negative impact that pain has on their lives.

Nineteenth century spirituality and health innovator, and founder of the Christian Science Church, Mary Baker Eddy explains in her book, Science and Health:

Whatever guides thought spiritually benefits mind and body. [page 149]

Baetz and Wachholz, seem to be finding, through research, what Eddy pointed out a century and a half ago. Spiritualization of thought can benefit the body, the seat of chronic pain.

Of all the research conducted on treating chronic pain, spirituality and prayer might be a fertile field with opportunities to uncover just how critical a role they play in treating this far too common condition.

Previously published in the Oregonian

John Clague is a retired sheriff’s office captain, father of two grown sons, and husband. He now works with the media to ensure accurate representation of Christian Science.