Healing has long been hailed by clients as a tonic to lift the spirits, but can it actually help sufferers of clinical depression? A current study being carried out in Norway aims to find out.
According to an article in the British Medical Journal (Vol 12, Issue 9) researchers at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromso, are spearheading investigations into the benefits of spiritual healing, on patients with depression.
Is Depression a global epidemic?
Depression has been ranked by the World Health Organisation as the fourth highest of all diseases in terms of social costs. It can become a very debilitating condition leaving sufferers to a greater or lesser extent, feeling discouraged, with a loss of meaning and purpose to life, lethargic, disinterested in everyday activities and others, introspective, lacking self-esteem with feelings of self blame and guilt.
Symptoms of most mental disorders show up before the age of 30, and the lack of appropriate treatment can leave people suffering for many years. Trends since 2020 predict depression to become the highest costing of all diseases. Consequently, the need to establish effective and non invasive treatments is both urgent and necessary.
The Problem with Medication
The usual treatment is anti-depressant pills. However many patients are reluctant to use medication for emotional or psychological conditions.
The article reports that the most commonly prescribed anti-depressants known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been shown to offer no benefits beyond placebo to those with mild or medium levels of depression. Unfortunately they can also cause some serious adverse effects, including paradoxically, an increased vulnerability to depressive episodes later in life.
Why choose Spiritual Healing?
Spiritual Healing, which is one of the most popular complementary medicine treatments in Norway, has been shown to be low risk, and some existing studies have already shown that Healing can have beneficial effects on mental health.
The research group in the current Spiritual Healing study did a trial run whereby patients with depression measured their own improvements on a 7 point scale. Results from this preliminary study were very encouraging, with all the patients reporting a subjective improvement of 4 points on the scale, excepting one who reported no change. No detrimental effects were reported.
The full article complete with study references can be found here:
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/9/e062683#ref-22
