Intentionality in Healing

I have heard it said, ‘He wants to die’ and I have heard it said, ‘He won’t die. He’s a fighter!’ In both these examples the patient might well have been suffering from the same or a similar ailment and yet one will die and the other will live. The final result being largely due to their attitude of mind.

One person will recover quickly from an operation, whilst another person, having the same operation will recover more slowly. It is the way we think about our problems that largely governs the way we progress.

This ‘intentionality’ has long been known in Asian medicine and is something that we, who practice complementary medicine here in the West, should be very well aware of and use to its fullest extent.

In order that our patients/clients can achieve the greatest benefit from our services we must have the intention to assist in the issue of their health and well-being.

Physicians as well as health practitioners agree that healing is not possible when patients are not co-operating. Unfortunately, in Western medical systems, the patient is very often not allowed to participate in the process of getting well. In cases of genetic or chronic disease, patients can learn how to monitor their deficiencies and should not be scared into negative thought processes. Research on the relationship between patients and physicians has found that there can, on occasion, be negative programming by the physician. While explaining to the patient the expected course of their ailment they may be encouraging them to unconsciously accept these suggestions as fact, resulting in the development of those same expected symptoms in there entirety. More and more documentation is piling up that patients who were diagnosed with a fatal illness but refused to accept the verdict of being incurable, not only survived longer than predicted, but, in some cases, even went into complete remission and could ultimately be considered cured.

No physician can predict the exact course of an illness every time because the factors contributing to a disease are too complex. Asian practitioners are never so unprofessional as to promise success. They do, however, create a space where the unexpected can happen.

Therefore, perhaps, as complementary therapists, we should propose that the first step towards healing is the active involvement of the patient as well as his/her friends and relatives in the healing process. We must attempt to stimulate this ‘intentionality’ in our patients/clients by generating an experience for them, within our own therapies, that proves change is possible; that offers satisfaction; that reconfirms life, and provides positive feelings in order that the body’s own self-healing powers may become stimulated.

In Asia the main task of health practitioners, both orthodox and complementary, is to shift the patient’s attention out of an illness pattern into a condition where changes become possible. In the majority of cases, complementary therapies have fewer side effects than orthodox medicine although generally orthodox medicine works quicker. However, it only removes the symptoms. It does not aim, as complementary therapy does, to remove the underlying cause – or to enable the patient to cope more naturally with the underlying cause where the removal of that cause may not be possible, such as in an unhappy personal or social relationship.

In ancient China, physicians were only paid as long as they kept their patients healthy. Complementary medicine is a very strong preventative medicine when practised positively. It can be uplifting. It can be restorative.

Health is a matter of choice. Not only of the physician and health practitioner but also of the patient. Health can be balanced and maintained before disease has the chance to develop. We can all become aware of habits which undermine our health and replace them with habits which reinforce our well-being. But it is the quality of intentionality of all those involved in the healing process, including ourselves, which is most important. All communication between practitioner and patient or patient to practitioner should be positive. Even when complete healing is physically not possible, a positive maintenance programme can still be discussed realistically. Positive intentions of all involved can improve otherwise hopeless situations.

Complementary medicine, of any discipline, should aim ‘to encourage the patient/client to make changes in their own lives to improve their health.’ Intentionality, that intention to assist and intention to receive positively, should be the major cornerstone of our treatment. It is a two-way programme which we must understand and use to the full.

(Taken from an article in the Jersey Association of Complementary Therapist's Newsletter 1997)

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