The Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine

  • Print

The research clinic was established in 1997 after research findings strongly indicating that interventions that improved quality of life and general well-being would be followed by a spontaneous and large improvement of physical and mental health. From the beginning the research was strongly supported financially by IMK Almene Fund and in 2000 this foundation made a large part of a four floor building in TeglgĂĄrdstræde in central Copenhagen available for the research centre and research clinic. 

Research in holistic medicine needs to have the same quality as biomedical research protocols. The lack of research expertise and national organs to regulate this kind of research and assure its quality has lead us to develop the concept “Open Source Research Protocol” LINK, where all important procedures, treatment techniques, ethical considerations, documentation standards, systems for quality assurance, including instruments for measurement of effect like questionnaires that have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals (see table 1). The publication of all aspects of the protocol and the research that resulted has made it possible to have an excellent standard of research. We also believe that by publishing all part of the protocol and receiving critique from internationally recognised scientific journals have avoided much of the bias that all research obviously contain.

 

Table 1. The peer-reviewed journals that have published the research protocols and scientific papers on quality of life research and clinical holistic medicine

 

  • Arch Sex Behaviour (sexology) (Medline/PubMed)
  • BMJ (medicine) (Medline/PubMed)
  • Child Care Health Dev (paediatrics) (Medline/PubMed)
  • Eur J Surg (surgery) (Medline/PubMed)
  • Int J Adolesc. Med Health (adolescent medicine, paediatrics) (Medline/PubMed)
  • Int J Child Health Human Dev (paediatrics, human development) (PsycINFO,
  • PubMedCentral)
  • Int J Disabil Hum Dev (disability, human development) (PsycINFO)
  • Ital J Pediatr (pediatrics, adolescent medicine)
  • J Altern Med Res (alternative medicine)
  • J Coll Physicians Surg Pak (Medicine) (Medline/PubMed)
  • J Compl Integr Medicine (alternative medicine) (Medline/PubMed)
  • J Pediatric Adolesc Gynecol (gynecology, pediatrics) (Medline/PubMed)
  • J Pain Management (medicine) (PsycINFO, PubMedCentral)
  • Med Sci Monit (medicine) (MedLine/PubMed)
  • Oral Health Prev Dent (dentistry) (Medline/PubMed)
  • South Med J (medicine) (Medline/PubMed)
  • Social Indicators Research (sociology) (PsycINFO)
  • ScientificWorldJournal (medicine) (Medline/PubMed)
  • Ugeskrift for Læger (medicine) (Medline/PubMed)

Table 2. The most important series of papers that constitute the research protocol in clinical holistic medicine

  • QOL methodology describes the method used to measure quality of life used with the Quality of Life Survey Study at the Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), Denmark.
  • QOL philosophy describes the philosophy behind our work with quality of life presented in the books “Quality of life. To seize the meaning of life and get well again” (1995), “Life philosophy that heals. Quality of life as medicine” (1999), “Consciousness-based medicine” (2003) and “Principles of Holistic Medicine. Philosophy behind quality of life” (2005). These are publications describing the philosophy on which the entire project is based.
  • QOL theory covers the related life and human points of view described theoretically.
  • QOL questionnaires are the questionnaires used in the Quality of Life Survey Study and later studies.
  • QOL results are results from the Quality of Life Survey Study.
  • Theories of existence are new theories on quality of life and the human nature described coherently and concisely.
  • Holistic medicine describes our research program for the holistic-medical project ― a new research paradigm for researching alternative and holistic medicine and a theory for process of holistic healing.
  • QOL as medicine describes results from the treatment of patients suffering from various chronic diseases, like chronic pains, alcoholism and Whiplash Associated Disorders.
  • Clinical holistic medicine describes how to deal with the variety of problems presented by the patients in the medical clinic using holistic medicine.
  • Human development is a series of papers to address a number of unsolved problems in biology today. First of all, the unsolved enigma concerning how the differentiation from a single zygote to an adult individual happens has been object for severe research through decades. By uncovering a new holistic biological paradigm that introduces an energetic-informational interpretation of reality as a new way to experience biology, these papers try to solve the problems connected with the events of biological ontogenesis from a single cell involvement in the fractal hierarchy, to the function of the human brain and “adult human metamorphosis”.
  • Quality of working life research is a series of paper that addresses the fundamental needs for happiness and efficiency the working situation. This applies to physicians and therapists as well as other occupations. The series of paper analyses how we can develop in our job, and continue to learn and grow, and avoid the routine and boredom that in the end forces us to compromise with quality and patience.

 

Research in clinical holistic medicine

Millennia ago, around the year 300 BCE, at the island of Cos in old Greece, the students of the famous physician Hippocrates (460-377 BCE) (1) worked to help their patients to step into character, get direction in life, and use their human talents for the benefit of their surrounding world. For all we know this approach was efficient medicine that helped the patients to recover health, quality of life, and ability for which Hippocrates gained great fame. For more than 2,000 years this was what medicine was about in most of Europe.

On other continents similar medical systems were developed. The medicine wheel of the native Americans, the African Sangoma culture, the Samic Shamans of northern Europe, the healers of the Australian Aboriginals, the Ayurvedic doctors of India, the acupuncturists of China, and the herbal doctors of Tibet all seems to be fundamentally character medicine (2-8). All the theories and the medical understanding from these pre-modern cultures are now being integrated into what has been called integrative or trans-cultural medicine. Many of the old medical systems are reappearing in modern time as alternative, complementary and psychosocial medicine. This huge body of theory is now being offered as a European Union Master of Science degree (2-8). 

Interestingly, two huge movements of the last century have put this old knowledge into use: psychoanalysis (9) and psychodynamic therapy (10,11) (most importantly STPP or short term psychodynamic psychotherapy) (12,13) going though the mind on the one hand and through the body on the other. Bodywork developed through most importantly Reich (14), Lowen (15) and Rosen (16) with sexual therapy along the tantric tradition (17). A third road, but much less common path has been directly though the spiritual reconnection with the world (18,19).

Our international research collaboration became interested in existential healing from the data that originated from the epidemiological research at the Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet) starting in 1958-61 at the Research Unit for Prospective Pediatrics and the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort 1959-61. Almost 20 years ago we were conducting epidemiological research on quality of life, closely examining the connection between global quality of life and health for more than 11.000 people in a series of huge surveys (see 20 for a review of these studies) using large and extensive questionnaires, some of them with over 3,000 questions. We found (quite surprisingly) from this huge data base that quality of life, mental and physical health, and ability of social, sexual and working ability seemed to be caused primarily by the consciousness and philosophy of life of the person in question. Objective data were only to a small extent involved, like being adopted, coming from a family with only one breadwinner, mother being mentally ill, or the person in question financially poor or poorly educated (which are obviously very much socially inherited) (20). Clinical holistic medicine is holistic mind-body medicine, which is also clinical medicine, i.e. medicine based on patient self-exploration and self-insight for obtaining existential healing. It is also called holistic body psychotherapy, mindful mind-body medicine, and similar names.

Results

According to the Open Source Protocol (21) holistic medicine has no significant side effects and it is very efficient to treat physical and mental illnesses, sexual and existential problems and low self esteem (see table 3)

Table 3. Treatment success rate when all treatment failures (non-responders), drop-outs of the survey, and dropouts of treatment are taken as non-responders. Patient’s own experience as measured self-rated with the questionnaire QOL10, and the patient is taken as cured if the state of the measured factor was bad or very bad before treatment and not bad after treatment (and one year after treatment, statistically, using the square curve paradigm). The data comes from clinical studies covering the holistic treatment of 600 patients. (CHM: Clinical holistic medicine. HMS: Holistic manual sexology. HMS-D: Holistic manual sexology – Dodson’s method for treating chronic anorgasmia) (see 21 for the references)

 

Physical illness                   (CHM) 39%(p=0.05) (126,128)

Mental illness                      (CHM) 57% (p=0.05) (129)

Low quality of life               (CHM) 56% (p=0.05) (131)

Low self-esteem                 (CHM) 61% (p=0.05) (132)

Low working ability             (CHM) 52% (p=0.05) (133)

Sexual dysfunction             (CHM) 42% (p=0.05) (130)

Sexual dysfunction             (HMS) 56% (p=0.05) (115)

Sexual dysfunction             (HMS-D) 93% (p=0.05) (169)

 

Acknowledgments

The Danish Quality of Life Survey, Quality of Life Research Center and the Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, was from 1987 till today supported by grants from the 1991 Pharmacy Foundation, the Goodwill-fonden, the JL-Foundation, E Danielsen and Wife's Foundation, Emmerick Meyer's Trust, the Frimodt-Heineken Foundation, the Hede Nielsen Family Foundation, Petrus Andersens Fond, Wholesaler CP Frederiksens Study Trust, Else and Mogens Wedell-Wedellsborg's Foundation and IMK Almene Fond. The research in quality of life and scientific complementary and holistic medicine was approved by the Copenhagen Scientific Ethical Committee under the numbers (KF)V. 100.1762-90, (KF)V. 100.2123/91, (KF)V. 01-502/93, (KF)V. 01-026/97, (KF)V. 01-162/97, (KF)V. 01-198/97, and further correspondence. We declare no conflicts of interest.

 

References

 

  1. Jones WHS. Hippocrates. Vol. I–IV. London: William Heinemann, 1923-1931.
  2. Antonella R. Introduction of regulatory methods. Graz, Austria: Interuniversity College, 2004.
  3. Blättner B. Fundamentals of salutogenesis. Graz, Austria: Interuniversity College, 2004.
  4. Endler PC. Master program for complementary, psychosocial and integrated health sciences Graz, Austria: Interuniversity College, 2004.
  5. Endler PC. Working and writing scientifically in complementary medicine and integrated health sciences. Graz, Austria: Interuniversity College, 2004.
  6. Kratky KW. Complementary medicine systems. Comparison and integration. New York, Nova Sci, 2008.
  7. Pass PF. Fundamentals of depth psychology. Therapeutic relationship formation between self-awareness and casework Graz, Austria: Interuniversity College, 2004.
  8. Spranger HH. Fundamentals of regulatory biology. Paradigms and scientific backgrounds of regulatory methods Graz, Austria: Interuniversity College, 2004.
  9. Jones E. The life and works of Sigmund Freud. New York: Basic Books, 1961.
  10. Jung CG. Man and his symbols. New York: Anchor Press, 1964.
  11. Jung CG. Psychology and alchemy. Collected works of CG Jung, Vol 12. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ Press, 1968.
  12. Leichsenring F, Rabung S, Leibing E. The efficacy of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy in specific psychiatric disorders: a meta-analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2004;61(12):1208-16.
  13. Leichsenring F. (2005) Are psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapies effective? A review of empirical data. Int J Psychoanal 2005;86(Pt 3):841-68.
  14. Reich W. [Die Function des Orgasmus]. Köln: Kiepenheuer Witsch 1969. [German]
  15. Lowen A. Honoring the body. Alachua, FL: Bioenergetics Press, 2004.
  16. Rosen M, Brenner S. Rosen method bodywork. Accessing the unconscious through touch. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2003.
  17. Anand M. The art of sexual ecstasy. The path of sacred sexuality for western lovers. New York: Jeremy P Tarcher/Putnam, 1989.
  18. Antonovsky A. Health, stress and coping. London: Jossey-Bass, 1985.
  19. Antonovsky A. Unravelling the mystery of health. How people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987.
  20. Ventegodt S, Flensborg-Madsen T, Andersen NJ, Nielsen M, Mohammed M, Merrick J. Global quality of life (QOL), health and ability are primarily determined by our consciousness. Research findings from Denmark 1991-2004. Soc Indicator Res 2005;71:87-122. PDF
  21. Ventegodt S, Andersen NJ, Kandel I, Merrick J. The open source protocol of clinical holistic medicine. J Altern Med Res 2009;1(2), 129-44.