Evidence builds – mind power over health

Despite recent evidence that drug-coated stents (wire mesh tubes that hold arteries open) definitely reduce re-clogging after heart procedures, a Dutch research project has found statistically significant evidence that the mindset of the patient can have a powerful effect on whether the person will remain healthy for long.

“To look into the possibility that non-traditional risk factors may play a role, [the research] group rated patients on the Type D Personality Scale six months after they underwent angioplasty and stenting.

Type D is the name assigned to a personality that harbors lots of negative emotions but doesn’t express them openly. As more investigators look into these kinds of connections, the power of the mind over one’s physical health is becoming ever clearer. And the joining of the eastern and the western philosophies about medicine grows ever closer. Here’s a cool website that describes the work that a specially created Health/Emotions Research Institute (part of the University of Wisconsin) is doing to study the connection between positive emotions and brain activity.

We will sneak quietly into this new understanding. No one will make a great noise about it. But that’s okay. At least then we’ll finally be accessing ALL the available options for healing.