Mind Body medicine is a broad term that encompasses a variety of techniques that are designed to enhances the mind’s capacity to affect the body. Many techniques are taught by the physician to the patient in order to promote optimal health and well being. These techniques encourage self care and relaxation which promotes the parasympathetic state in the body in order to facilitate healing. Some techniques include, but are not limited to, meditation, yoga, hypnosis, breathing exercises and visualization. These techniques address the often neglected mental, emotional, and spiritual plane of healing. More and more research is continuing to prove the effectiveness of the mind on the body. Not only has research been conducted on mind body interventions for stress but also physical ailments as well. For example, meditation has been shown to reduce pain scores in women with fibromyalgia (Cash, 2015).
Cash E, Salmon P, Weissbecker I, Rebholz WN, Bayley-Veloso R, Zimmaro LA, Floyd A, Dedert E, Sephton SE. Mindfulness meditation alleviates fibromyalgia symptoms in women: results of a randomized clinical trial. Ann Behav Med. 2015 Jun;49(3):319-30. doi: 10.1007/s12160-014-9665-0. PMID: 25425224; PMCID: PMC4802162.