Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jan 2003  by Weisberg, Mark B

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Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis. James L. Oschman. London: Churchill Livingstone (2001). xv + 275 pages, $38.00 (paperback). Reviewed by: Mark B. Weisberg, Ph.D., ABPP, Minneapolis, MN

"The scientist knows that in the history of ideas, magic always precedes science, that the intuition of phenomena anticipates their objective knowledge" (Gauguelin, 1974 p. 3).

As in other paradigm-changing scientific fields, mind-body medicine has been attempting to move from magic and intuition to scientific understanding, to elucidate the mechanisms by which psychophysiologic phenomena manifest. The work of Dr. Robert Ader (1995), Dr. Candace Pert (1999) and others helped to define the emerging field of psychoneuroimmunology. Some of the data from this area of inquiry has helped clinicians and researchers in being able to understand and articulate the neurophysiologic building blocks of mind-body change. In recent years there has been growing interest in the "magic" of energy phenomena and their impact on illness and healing. There is a small but growing literature documenting how research in biology, chemistry and physics can be applied to human energetic systems in ways that impact both traditional and complimentary treatment approaches.

Interest in energy has grown in the hypnosis community as well. Recent years have shown increased interest in workshops exploring the integration of hypnosis with EMDR, acupuncture, and other related modalities. At the 2002 ASCH Annual Conference, Dr. Daniel Brown presented a fascinating synthesis of research findings pertaining to hypnosis and energy medicine.

Dr. James Oschman's book, Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis attempts to map out how the human body is impacted upon by energy medicine. Oschman, a cell biologist and physiologist, has attempted to provide scientific support and rationale for concepts accepted by practitioners of energy medicine: that trauma is absorbed and stored in the body, and can be unblocked by some corrective energy flow. As Candace Pert points out in the book's foreword, his theory draws on physiology, electromagnetic principles, and physics rather than on "subtle energies and mysterious forces which currently lack a scientific rationale" (p. ix).

An important and recurring message in this book is that the principles of energy medicine are not exotic or esoteric, but rather are present in our current scientific understanding of the body. Many medical centers are currently studying the effects of oscillating magnetic fields for the treatment of bone, nerve, skin, capillary, and ligament damage, for example. Medical research is demonstrating that devices producing pulsing magnetic fields of particular frequencies can stimulate healing in a variety of tissues. This pulsating magnetic energy is called a "biomagnetic field" when it emanates from the hands of an energy practitioner. Oschman emphasizes that medical research and hands-on therapies are confirming each other, and the common denominator is the pulsating magnetic field.

Oschman begins by reviewing the history of study of energy fields in medicine, and how controversy has always followed this enterprise. Much of this controversy stemmed from the argument of mechanism versus vitalism. Mechanists hold that life obeys the laws of chemistry and physics, and can be totally explained by those laws. In contrast, vitalists have held to the belief that life will never be fully explained by normal chemistry and physics, and that there is some kind of mysterious "life force" that is separate from the known physical laws of nature and that distinguishes living from non-living matter. Vitalists see this concept as universal and long-standing, appearing in some form or another in many different cultures and religions.

Yet with all the controversy, isn't it interesting that many of the most commonly used diagnostic techniques in contemporary medicine such as the electrocardiogram (EKG), electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) are based on a central premise from energy medicine: That every physiological process in the body has an electrical counterpart. When one considers the electrical counterparts of the endocrine, immune and nervous systems, it provides the potential for a much richer understanding of what we think of as psychoneuroimmunology. For example, Oschman's review of the relationship between electromagnetic resonance and various emotional states provides a heuristic theory for scientists who wish to further study this fascinating area.

The author goes on to provide a technical primer in vibrational biophysics, gravitational physiology, electromagnetic signaling and biosensors, Lucretian biochemistry and cellular oscillating principles. Only passing reference is made to the ways that various energy techniques are practiced and to the extensive and growing research that supports their claims of clinical efficacy. The emphasis of his writing is an attempt to use widely accepted scientific research to answer the question "If it works, then how does it work?"