Today’s News and Culture update: Watch Dr. Lissa Rankin’s latest Ted talk: “Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves?”
Dr. Rankin begins her talk with this question: “Can the mind really heal the body? And, if so, is there any scientific evidence to convince skeptical physicians like me?”
She says the medical establishment has been proving for over 50 years that the mind can heal the body: “We call it the placebo effect–and it’s a thorn in the side of the medical establishment.”
She maintains that doctors can be placebos and nocebos in treatment. “Patients need us to be forces of healing, not forces of fear or pessimism. So every time a doctor tells you, ‘You have an incurable illness. You have a 5-year survival rate’…it’s really a form of medical hexing.”
Dr. Rankin says in order to heal ourselves and to be optimal healers, “we need more than diet, we need healthy relationships, a healthy spiritual life, healthy careers…a healthy mind.”
We need to bring care back to healthcare to heal the system, says Dr. Rankin. “It all starts with you. Be the love that you want to see in healthcare.”
I hope you’ll share your reaction to her talk with the Breaking Bread community.
Thanks for this blog and the video. It’s so good to have the idea of medical hexing exposed. It’s something that has bothered me for a long time. That one reform would make a huge difference. The idea that some things are incurable really runs counter to the idea that “…all things are possible to God.” The whole sentence reads “The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love (Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy, p 1).
Thank you so much for sharing Dr. Rankin’s talk. I love her conclusion, that we can cure the health-care system by putting the “care” back in “health-care.” The leaven of Truth has been at work, and the loaf is rising within the heart of humanity. Dr. Rankin’s words, born of pure motives, will inspire a society beginning to yearn for a more spiritual form of health-care. Her chart model includes “love” and “gratitude,” two concepts basic to the practice of Christian Science. It is inspiring to see stirrings of this unity coming to medical practice.
I like the thrust of this video where the doctor seems to be defending the need for doctors, yet turning the responsibility for a healthy body and mind over to each individual. If I form happy relationships, get a pet, etc., I need not get sick. My question is, what if my friend dumps me or my dog dies and I can’t figure out what to do? A doctor could perform a fake surgery or give me a drugless drug? A pep talk would definitely be better than a hex!
But if God were to figure in, wouldn’t it be more likely I’d feel a love that didn’t depend on often problematic relationships, and mightn’t I feel companioned even when alone, which we all are sometimes. I think I’d be tapping into a higher, more intelligent Problem Solver and learning about a joy that could survive anything because it’s based on a higher, more solid concept of reality. Am I making sense here? Anything I’ve misunderstood?
That makes sense to me, Sharla.
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The limitation to Dr. R’s insights is the failure to consider the spiritual nature of Mind as a synonym for God. Putting the “care” back in health care to me means acknowledging the care that is based on love and that in turn leads us to remember that love is another name for God. Good for Dr. R. in taking these steps forward Loving physicians are healing physicians but going directly to the source, the healing power of God is love, is the best