Tag Archives: medication

Selling Disease or Buying into Health?

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The following guest blog is written by my friend Steve Graham. Much of his career as an editor has been centered on spiritual reporting. He spent the first part of his career working in Michigan as an advertising copywriter in the auto industry. He writes from his home in Natick, MA.

A recent blog post on this site reported that the US spends $300 billion a year on pharmaceutical drugs, and that the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that permit the public advertising of prescription drugs.

Any American who has spent any time at all watching television is familiar with the slick and often lengthy commercials for these drugs. They may:

  • humorously depict the symptoms of the disease in question (as for example one that shows an elephant sitting on a person’s chest)
  • glamorize the product through indirect association (by showing, for example, a smartly dressed woman window shopping in an upscale mall)
  • inadvertently promise joy and hope (through shots of sun and flowers and smiles and picnics)

But you have to admit that the main purpose of this advertising is to sell products so that corporations make money. Viewers are urged to “ask their doctor” as an empowered consumer, rather than as a helpless patient. Continue reading →

Offer Your Prayer for Mental Health Recovery

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The following guest blog is written by Dawn-Marie Cornett, Christian Science practitioner and community-involved mom who lives and writes from her home in Framingham, MA.

Today is National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery. NAMI, or the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has wonderful resources on how you can be involved in helping to foster more compassion and awareness of the issues surrounding mental illness, including a document they put together with FaithNet.org. NAMI and FaithNet.org are supporting activities that connect faith-based practices and prayer to those needing support and healing.

According to an article on Huff Post, recent statistics indicate that medication use for mental illnesses, such as depression, is on the rise--specifically among women. Fifteen percent of men use antidepressants and other drugs associated with mental illnesses, compared with one in four women who use these types of medication. The article points out that experts are concerned about this rise in prescription drug use: "We recognize that, particularly in America, we tend to like our fast-fixes. If there's a pill for something, that might be the easier, faster approach than talking it through or exercising." Continue reading →

Positive Results via Placebo

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If you follow my blog regularly, you know I’m interested in the placebo effect. I came across an article and a video that I thought might further stir thoughtful discussion on the topic. As always, share your thoughts!

Read:

Don’t Underestimate the Placebo Effect

Watch:

“In this episode of Good Life Project TV, author/entrepreneur, Jonathan Fields, interviews famed psychologist, behavioral-economist and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, Dan Ariely.

In his late teens, a horrific accident burned 70% of Dan’s body and sent him into the Continue reading →

A Smile a Minute

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Here’s one of my first blog entries that I wrote back in April. Enjoy the second round!

Perhaps the simplest remedy for an ailment is right under your nose: A good laugh.

“Safer than any big pharma pill-of-the-moment and free of harmful side effects, laughter is one of the easiest things you can do to promote healing and well-being,” writes Dr. Frank Lipman in his recent HuffPost blog Comic Relief: The Healing Power of Laughter. He goes on to say that in his 20-year medical practice patients who tended to laugh a lot also tended to heal “better and faster than those who didn’t.” Continue reading →

Placebo’s power–even when you know it

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Tuesday’s News & Culture update:

A recent placebo study that took place in Boston might just make you sit up and say, “What?!” It did for me.

Typically patients aren’t aware when they’re given a placebo, yet in this instance, a woman was totally knowledgeable of the fake pills she was given to treat a longstanding ailment. She’d tried a lot of remedies, so when she got better through this acknowledged placebo treatment, she wanted more! Continue reading →

Your thought goes a long way

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Today’s News & Culture update: A look at the power of thought and prayer in treating cancer, as well as the ethical side of placebo treatment. Below are excerpts with links to read the full articles. These ideas/findings are significant and point to the changes taking place regarding healthcare.

I think it’s also heartening to take it a step beyond the human mind with the knowledge that there is one infinite, divine Mind controlling our thought and action and that “The human thought must free itself from self-imposed materiality and bondage” since ultimately “mortal mind so-called is not a healer, but causes the belief in disease” (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 191 and 482)

The Human Mind: One of the Best Treatments for Cancer?

“After many grueling hours of treatment, numerous trips to the doctor’s office, and thousands of dollars spent on medication, many patients are still left battling for their lives. So what else can they do? Where else can they look? The answer might be closer Continue reading →

Clap health on, clap disease off

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“If you’re healthy and you know it clap your hands….”

Are you clapping your hands every day? What if the whole world did that–would it be loud?

I think the sound of people standing up for their health and the care of their health is getting louder. I thought I knew a lot about health and spirituality until I started blogging about it. I was pretty comfortable with the spirituality side. I’ve been a writer and journalist for prayer-based health care for a number of years, and as a Continue reading →

A prayer a day keeps the unnecessary costs away

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“Even if we used the entire GNP to pay for our nation’s healthcare needs it wouldn’t be enough. We need another solution.”

This was shared by a doctor at a recent panel discussion I attended in Boston on the convergence of health and spirituality. He intimated that the solution could lie in more of a spiritual, rather than a drug-based solution to healthcare.

That left me with the question: Where is all the money going? And isn’t there another way?

Continue reading →

The road I travel

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Today’s guest blog is written by Amy Richmond, blogger, full-time mom, and managing editor of Time4Thinkers.com. Her story points to the vital role consciousness and prayer plays in finding a more permanent solution to health.

For illustrative purposes only. ThinkStock

When my daughter was a toddler, we enrolled in mommy/daughter classes.  She loved them.  I did too.  She had fun.  I got sick.  Over and over again.

I was warned by my friends that kids with runny noses in play groups spread viruses faster than bunnies have babies.  And I experienced it first-hand.

At that time I had two methods of caring for my health. Sometimes I turned to prayer and other times I reached for some medicine.  I got better via both methods, but I wasn’t really invested in either one. I looked to one or the other when I felt miserable and wanted some relief. Continue reading →

A smile a minute

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Perhaps the simplest remedy for an ailment is right under your nose: A good laugh. ”

Safer than any big pharma pill-of-the-moment and free of harmful side effects, laughter is one of the easiest things you can do to promote healing and well-being,” writes Dr. Frank Lipman in his recent HuffPost blog Comic Relief: The Healing Power of Laughter. He goes on to say that in his 20-year medical practice patients who tended to laugh a lot also tended to heal “better and faster than those who didn’t.”

Continue reading →