Healing in a holistic sense has faded from medical attention and is rarely discussed in modern (“Western”) medicine especially in therapeutics. However, other disciplines like medical anthropology, sociology, alternate systems of medicine, and medical philosophy have continued an active contemplation of holistic healing. To heal is to achieve or acquire wholeness as a person. The wholeness of personhood involves physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual aspects of human experience (Egnew, 2005). It is perhaps difficult to quantify the relative importance of the various factors that contribute to healing. It may vary depending on the kind of illness that is being studied. Of the various factors that contribute to healing of illnesses in a community, only 20% could be ascribed to rational treatment using medicines or surgery. The remaining 80% is divided among three faith-based factors (White, 1988). i) Placebo effect (faith in drugs or procedural interventions) ii) Hawthorne effect (faith in a health care system, a facility or a professional) iii) Factor-X or “spiritual factor” (faith in oneself or in the supernatural) The relative importance of these faith-based factors in holistic healing may be debatable. However, there is no denying that these factors play an important part in the recovery from illnesses.

1. Spiritual Factor In Healing by Professor KR Sethuraman, MD.
“It is undoubtedly time that the ‘powerful placebo’ be examined in all
its myriad facets; otherwise medicine will always have a
limited perception of healing.” (Kaptchuk, 1998)
Healing in a holistic sense has faded from medical attention and is rarely discussed in
modern (“Western”) medicine especially in therapeutics. However, other disciplines
like medical anthropology, sociology, alternate systems of medicine, and medical
philosophy have continued an active contemplation of holistic healing. To heal is to
achieve or acquire wholeness as a person. The wholeness of personhood involves
physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual aspects of human experience
(Egnew, 2005).
It is perhaps difficult to quantify the relative importance of the various factors that
contribute to healing. It may vary depending on the kind of illness that is being
studied. Of the various factors that contribute to healing of illnesses in a community,
only 20% could be ascribed to rational treatment using medicines or surgery. The
remaining 80% is divided among three faith-based factors (White, 1988).
i) Placebo effect (faith in drugs or procedural interventions)
ii) Hawthorne effect (faith in a health care system, a facility or a professional)
iii) Factor-X or “spiritual factor” (faith in oneself or in the supernatural)
The relative importance of these faith-based factors in holistic healing may be
debatable. However, there is no denying that these factors play an important part in
the recovery from illnesses.
In 1984, the 37th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution which made the
spiritual dimension an integral part of the WHO Member States’ strategies for health.
The definition of health has been revised as follows: “Health is a dynamic state of
complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity” (Khayat, 1998).
The definition of spirituality adopted by the Association of American Medical
Colleges (AAMC, 1999) is broad and secular: “Spirituality is expressed in an
individual’s search for the ultimate meaning through participation in religion and/or
belief in God, family, naturalism, rationalism, humanism, and the arts. The concept of
spirituality is found in all cultures and societies. All of these factors can influence how
patients and health care professionals perceive health and illness and how they
interact with one another.”
The “World Health Organization-Quality of Life – Spirituality, Religion and Personal
Beliefs Group” (WHO-QOL SRPB) conducted a study in 18 countries (n = 5087) that
showed that spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs (SRPB) correlated highly with
all of the WHO-QOL domains (p<0.01). Women reported greater feelings of spiritual
connection and faith than men. Those with less education reported greater faith but
were less hopeful. It is suggested that SRPB should be more routinely addressed in
the assessment of quality of life (WHO-QOL SRPB Group, 2006). The role of
spirituality to explain why people with epilepsy of comparable severity differ widely
SPIRITUAL FACTOR IN HEALING
Professor KR Sethuraman, MD.
Vice Chancellor Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Pondicherry.

2. Spiritual Factor In Healing by Professor KR Sethuraman, MD.
in quality of life (QOL) assessment was explored. The
results revealed a significant contribution of spirituality
to QOL in epilepsy (Anna, et al., 2006).
A review by Rippentrop, et al, (2005) of spirituality in
people with chronic pain concluded that:
• many people with chronic pain use religious and
spiritual beliefs and activities to cope with pain;
• a relationship between religion/spirituality and
various health outcomes has been documented;
• there is a lack of research on potential mediators
of the relation between religion/spirituality and
health in chronic-pain populations;
• well-designed spiritual or religious behavioural
interventions for patients with chronic pain are
sparse.
Even life span seems to be influenced by a traditional
belief system: a landmark study reported in The Lancet
examined the deaths of 28,169 adult Chinese-
Americans and 412,632 randomly selected matched
controls from other ethnic groups. Only the Chinese-
Americans died significantly earlier, by 1.3 to 4.9 years,
if they had a combination of disease and birth-year
which the Chinese consider “ill-fated”. The more
orthodox the study group, the more years of life were
lost. This seems to result at least partly from
psychosomatic processes driven by their traditional
values and beliefs (Phillips, et al., 1993).
However, recent randomized trials and a meta-analysis
on intercessory prayers have shown no consistent
results in favour of intercessory prayers (Aviles, et al.,
2001; Benson, et al., 2005; Masters, et al., 2006). In the
clinical context, prayer should not be specifically
prescribed or seen as a substitute for rational medical
treatment, but should be recognized as an important
element in the way patients face chronic illness,
suffering, and loss.
Physicians need to address and be attentive to all
suffering of their patients – physical, emotional, and
spiritual. Doing so is part of the delivery of
compassionate care (Jantos & Kiat, 2007; Puchalski,
2001).
BARRIERS TO THE
INTEGRATION OF MIND
BODY MEDICINE
The following factors have been
suggested by Astin, et al. (2005) as
major barriers to the integration of
mind body principles and modern
clinical practices
1. Lack of knowledge of scientific
evidence regarding efficacy of
mind body/psychosocial
approaches;
2. Dehumanizing aspects of
medical education and a lack of
competence to utilize mind body
approaches;
3. Dichotomy created between
conditions that are perceived as
purely biological in aetiology
(the “organic lesions”) and those
that are psychological in nature,
a tendency that may put blinders
on the complex interplay of bio
psychosocial factors underlying
many conditions;
4. Perceived lack of time to
address psychosocial/mind
body issues;
5. Lack of third party
reimbursement for mind body
issues in the medical encounter;
6. Concern that more serious, life
threatening biological aspects of
patients might be
underemphasized if the
psychosocial domain is given too
much weight or attention;
7. Perceived lack of interest on
the part of patients to address
psychosocial issues as they seem
to prefer the “quick fix” of
symptom relief;
8. Fear that some patients might
feel stigmatized if physicians
suggest that psychosocial/mind
body factors may be playing
some causal role in their
symptoms.