Plausibility of homeopathy and conventional chemical therapy: the systemic memory resonance hypothesis.

The controversy surrounding clinical observations and double-blind studies on homeopathic treatments is lessened when modern dynamical systems analysis is applied to high-dilution therapies. The logic of recurrent feedback loops, which applies to all dynamical network systems, inexorably leads to the systemic memory hypothesis - that complex patterns of emergent information and energy are stored to various degrees in physical, chemical, and biological systems. The addition of resonance, a dynamic pattern recognition process, explains many classic observations using high-dilution therapies. The systemic memory resonance hypothesis potentially provides a plausible biophysical mechanism for explaining not only how high-dilution therapies contribute to healing, but by extension, how information and energy in low-dilution and chemical therapies contribute to healing as well.

A possible approach for researching purported spirit communication: an empirical-anecdotal investigation.

Can a digital clock that behaves erratically function as a flexible, open (random event generator-like) timing system to investigate purported communication with deceased individuals? If such theophysical effects exist, what implications do they have for mind-body and integrative medicine? Stimulated by research into spirit communication by Schwartz, Russek et al. (1999), Elayne Russek (ER) hypothesized that her deceased husband, noted cardiologist Henry I. Russek (HIR), might be influencing a digital clock that had become erratic. A repeated measures-within-subject experiment was designed such that daytime baseline data could be compared with the results of requests to slow or speed up the erratic clock during the night. Unfortunately, the AM-PM light was no longer functional, which meant that AM-PM information had to be inferred by applying an inference rule to the complete set of data. When this was done, a statistically significant effect was obtained. ER communicated to HIR that the experiment was inadequate because of the AM-PM defect and asked him for a "sign" that he was involved. She unexpectedly awoke in the middle of the night to find the AM-PM light flashing. The light became functional the following day, and subsequent data collection confirmed the inference rule. The combined empirical plus anecdotal nature of research in this area are considered, along with implications of the hypothesis for mind-body and integrative medicine.

Loving openness as a meta-world hypothesis: expanding our vision of mind and medicine.

In 1942, Stephen C. Pepper published a seminal book, World Hypothesis, that sought to explain how people create hypotheses about the world. Pepper proposed that there were four basic world hypotheses: (1) formistic (the hypothesis that nature exists as categories); (2) mechanistic (the hypothesis that nature obeys cause-effect relationships); (3) contextual (the hypothesis that processes in nature are relative and context dependent); and (4) organismic (the hypothesis that processes in nature reflect interactive relationships in systems). Most classical and modern theories of science and medicine implicitly adopt one or more of these foundational hypotheses. In 1997, Schwartz and Russek proposed that there were four additional world hypotheses: (5) implicit process (the hypothesis that nature consists of invisible forces and information, such as energy and consciousness); (6) circular causality (the hypothesis that nature consists of circulating interactions that inherently change over time); (7) creative unfolding (the hypothesis that processes in nature reflect flexible designs or plans that have adaptive function); and (8) integrative diversity (the hypothesis that phenomena in nature reflect complex integrations of diverse processes). Theories in postmodern and integrative science implicitly adopt hypotheses 5 through 8. However, underlying the creation of the eight world hypotheses is an implicit meta-world hypothesis which we term loving openness (the hypothesis that phenomena in nature reflect levels of openness and caring). This paper briefly explains the origin and implications of the loving openness meta-world hypothesis for understanding mind-body healing in medicine, the reordering of values in integrative medicine (with a primary focus on caring with humility), and the fostering of a new vision for twenty-first century frontier science, spirituality, and medicine.

Early life stress, negative paternal relationships, and chemical intolerance in middle-aged women: support for a neural sensitization model.

This study (ntotal = 35) compared early life stress ratings, parental relationships, and health status, notably orthostatic blood pressures, of middle-aged women with low-level chemical intolerance (CI group) and depression, depressives without CI (DEP group), and normals. Environmental chemical intolerance is a symptom of several controversial conditions in which women are overrepresented, that is, sick building syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia. Previous investigators have postulated that people with CI have variants of somatization disorder, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) initiated by childhood abuse or a toxic exposure event. One neurobehavioral model for CI, somatization disorder, recurrent depression, and PTSD is neural sensitization, that is, the progressive amplification of host responses (e.g., behavioral, neurochemical) to repeated intermittent stimuli (e.g., drugs, chemicals, endogenous mediators, stressors). Females are more vulnerable to sensitization than are males. Limbic and mesolimbic pathways mediate central nervous system sensitization. Although both CI and DEP groups had high levels of life stress and past abuse, the CI group had the most distant and weak paternal relationships and highest limbic somatic dysfunction subscale scores. Only the CI group showed sensitization of sitting blood pressures over sessions. Together with prior evidence, these data are consistent with a neural sensitization model for CI in certain women. The findings may have implications for poorer long-term medical as well as neuropsychiatric health outcomes of a subset of women with CI. Subsequent research should test this model in specific clinical diagnostic groups with CI.

Positive perceptions of parental caring are associated with reduced psychiatric and somatic symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: In a previous 35-year follow-up investigation to the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study, positive ratings of parental caring obtained in healthy male college students were found to be predictive of substantially reduced disease incidence (including cardiovascular disease, ulcers, and alcoholism) in mid-life. The present cross-sectional study examined the relationship between perceptions of parental caring, current psychiatric and somatic symptoms, and defensiveness, in a University of Arizona sample of females and males. METHOD: The Harvard Parental Caring Scale (HPCS), the SCL90R, and the Marlowe-Crowne (MC) scale (a measure of defensiveness) were administered to 398 students at the University of Arizona. RESULTS: Cronbach alphas were .83 for HPCS ratings of mothers and .88 for fathers. High HPCS ratings were associated with reduced symptoms reports in both females and males (p < .00002). Ratings of HPCS showed a small correlation with defensiveness (r = .141). The relationship between HPCS and symptoms was strongest in the least defensive subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Positive perceptions of love and caring from parents, typically the most important source of social support for children, are associated with reduced psychiatric and somatic symptoms. Defensiveness may play a protective role psychologically (but not necessarily physiologically) in reducing the conscious awareness of symptoms accompanying low perceptions of parental love and caring.

Heart-focused attention and heart-brain synchronization: energetic and physiological mechanisms.

CONTEXT: Many relaxation, meditation, and imagery techniques that implicitly or explicitly involve focused attention on the body, including qigong, massage, and noncontact therapeutic touch, purportedly employ energetic and physiological mechanisms. OBJECTIVE: To show that, from a perspective of dynamical energy systems, relaxed self-attention enhances connectivity between the brain and body. This enhanced connectivity may be achieved by at least 2 mechanisms: (1) physiological mechanisms employing peripheral negative feedback loops, and (2) bioelectromagnetic mechanisms involving direct energetic resonance between the peripheral organ and the brain. DESIGN: 19 channels of electroencephalogram, 1 electrocardiogram, and 2 channels of electro-oculogram were recorded from 22 subjects who focused their attention on their heartbeats or eye movements, with and without kinesthetic (touch) biofeedback to increase somatic awareness. RESULTS: Analyses of the electroencephalogram synchronized with the electrocardiogram revealed significant effects for heart-focused attention, primarily with touch biofeedback, following the contraction of the ventricles (possibly reflecting increased baroreceptor and somatosensory feedback); and significant effects for heart-focused attention, with and without touch biofeedback, preceding the contraction of the ventricles (possibly reflecting direct electromagnetic interactions between the heart and the brain). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that energetic and physiological mechanisms may be involved in techniques in which the goal is to promote mind-body integration and health.

Dynamical energy systems and modern physics: fostering the science and spirit of complementary and alternative medicine.

When systems theory is carefully applied to the concept of energy, some novel and far-reaching implications for modern physics and complementary medicine emerge. The heart of systems theory is dynamic interactions: systems do not simply act on systems, they interact with them in complex ways. By definition, systems at any level (e.g., physical, biological, social, ecological) are open to information, energy, and matter to varying degrees, and therefore interact with other systems to varying degrees. We first show how resonance between two tuning forks, a classic demonstration in physics, can be seen to reflect synchronized dynamic interactions over time. We then derive how the dynamic interaction of systems in mutual recurrent feedback relationships naturally create dynamic "memories" for their interactions over time. The mystery of how a photon (or electron) "knows" ahead of time whether to function as a particle or wave in the single slit/double slit quantum physics paradigm is potentially solved when energetic interactions inherent in the experimental system are recognized. The observation that energy decreases with the square of distance is shown not to be immutable when viewed from a dynamical energy systems perspective. Implications for controversial claims in complementary and alternative medicine, such as memory for molecules retained in water (homeopathy), remote diagnosis, and prayer and healing, are considered. A dynamical energy systems framework can facilitate the development of what might be termed "relationship consciousness," which has the potential to nurture both the science and spirit of complementary medicine and might help to create integrated medicine.

Perceptions of parental caring predict health status in midlife: a 35-year follow-up of the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined how the perception of parental caring, obtained from undergraduates, relates to subsequent health over the ensuing 35 years. METHODS: In the early 1950s, initial ratings of parental caring were obtained from a sample of healthy, Harvard undergraduate men who participated in the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study. In a 35 year prospective, follow-up investigation, detailed medical and psychological histories and medical records were obtained. RESULTS: Subjects identified in midlife as suffering from illnesses such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, and alcoholism, gave their parents significantly lower ratings (p < .00003) on perceived parental caring items (loving, just, fair, hardworking, clever, strong) while in college. This effect was independent of subject's age, family history of illness, smoking behavior, the death and/or divorce of parents, and marital history of subjects. Furthermore, 87% of subjects who rated both their mothers and fathers low in parental caring had diagnosed diseases in midlife, whereas only 25% of subjects who rated both their mothers and fathers high in parental caring had diagnosed diseases in midlife. CONCLUSIONS: Since parents are usually the most meaningful source of social support for much of early life, the perception of parental caring, and parental loving itself, may have important regulatory and predictive effects on biological and psychological health and illness.

Feelings of parental caring predict health status in midlife: a 35-year follow-up of the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study.

In the early 1950s, multiple-choice scores reflecting feelings of warmth and closeness with parents were obtained from a sample of healthy, undergraduate Harvard men who participated in the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study. Thirty-five years later, detailed medical and psychological histories and medical records were obtained. Ninety-one percent of participants who did not perceive themselves to have had a warm relationship with their mothers (assessed during college) had diagnosed diseases in midlife (including coronary artery disease, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, and alcoholism), as compared to 45% of participants who perceived themselves to have had a warm relationship with their mothers. A similar association between perceived warmth and closeness and future illness was obtained for fathers. Since parents are usually the most meaningful source of social support in early life, the perception of parental love and caring may have important effects on biological and psychological health and illness throughout life.

Narrative descriptions of parental love and caring predict health status in midlife: a 35-year follow-up of the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study.

Perceived social support has been established as an important determinant of mortality risk. The perception of parental love and caring reflects the core of social support in the first 20 years of life. In the early 1950s, narrative descriptions of parents were obtained from a sample of healthy undergraduate men at Harvard University who participated in the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study. In a 35-year prospective follow-up investigation, detailed medical and psychological histories and medical records were obtained. Subjects who had illnesses such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, and alcoholism in midlife had used significantly fewer positive words to describe their parents (eg, loving, friendly, warm, open, understanding, sympathetic, just) while in college. This effect was independent of the subject's age, family history of illness, smoking behavior, marital history, and the death or divorce of the subject's parents. Furthermore, 95% of subjects who used few positive words and also rated their parents low in parental caring had diseases diagnosed in midlife, whereas only 29% of subjects who used many positive words and also rated their parents high in parental caring had diseases diagnosed in midlife. Because parents are usually the most meaningful source of love and caring for much of early life, the perception of parental love and caring may play a special role in promoting long-term health. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that love and caring play an important role in healing.

The Harvard Mastery of Stress Study 35-year follow-up: prognostic significance of patterns of psychophysiological arousal and adaptation.

A 35-year prospective study was undertaken in 126 former college students to determine the predictive value of psychophysiological patterns previously recorded in response to repetitive laboratory stress experiments. Detailed health information has been obtained in 116 (92.1%) of these subjects. The emotion of "severe anxiety" expressed in one or more of the prior tests appeared to be a reliable marker for increased susceptibility not only to coronary heart disease but to overall future illness. This form of pathological anxiety, moreover, was frequently shown to be linked to marked conflict about hostile impulses. Contrariwise, neither anger-in nor anger-out was found to be associated with a higher incidence of subsequent disease. Failure to express emotion was observed in a variety of subjects who as a group exhibited no predisposition to sickness in later life. Psychological Mastery was predictive of favorable prognosis, but Physiological Mastery, contrary to expectations, did not show statistically significant advantages in that regard. Thus, the construct of "Mastery" itself as a determinant of prognosis was not fully supported by the findings in the present study. Cardiovascular hyperreactivity could not be confirmed as a major biologic mechanism responsible for cardiovascular disease. Such hyperresponses were common in association with "anger-in" without evidence of increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease or other forms of illness. Further research is needed to identify pathophysiological pathways that may be activated by the emotion of severe anxiety in mediating its apparent relationship with total morbidity and mortality over time.