Thesis on "Hypnosis Compared to Eastern Meditation Chi Kung and Nei"

Thesis 66 pages (18188 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

globalization and innovations in telecommunications are bringing healthcare practitioners together from all over the world in ways that have never before been possible. As these collaborative efforts and mature communities of practice continue to emerge, it is important to help Western practitioners understand the fundamental tenets of Eastern medicine and representative practices, just as it is important to help practitioners in China and elsewhere in the East understand the allopathic approaches that are most widely practiced in the West. To this end, this study compared the clinical use of hypnosis with the use of Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung. To achieve this comparison, a review of the relevant literature was combined with a qualitative meta-analysis of the peer-reviewed and scholarly literature concerning these treatment modalities which are applied in a series of vignettes to illustrate how these methods can be used in isolation or in combination to achieve superior clinical outcomes. These results of the research are then synthesized in the concluding chapter together with a summary of the research, salient findings and recommendations for allopathic practitioners concerning the use of alternative medicine.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Statement of the Problem

Purpose of Study

Importance of Study

Scope of Study

Rationale of Study

Overview of Study

Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

Chapter 3: Methodology

Description of the Study Approach

Data-gathering Method and Database of Study

Chapter 4: Data Analysis

Meta-Analysis

Representative Treatment Applications for Hypnosis, Eastern Meditation,

Chi Kung, and Nei Kung

Representative Treatment Vignettes

Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

A Comparison of Hypnosis with Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung

Chapter 1:

Introduction

Statement of the Problem

Clinicians who practice modern medicine in the West are increasingly recognizing the value of various mind-body methods in promoting healing and in the treatment of a wide range of diseases and bodily disorders. Some of these techniques, such as meditation and herbal therapies, are widely used in both the East and the West, but others, such as hypnosis, remain largely restricted to allopathic practitioners. Likewise, many Western practitioners are unaware of the use of other techniques with proven efficacy such as Chi Kung and Kei Kung that have been practiced in China for millennia. In this regard, Gielen, Fish and Draguns (2004) note that, "Generally speaking, indigenous Chinese healing (ICH) includes three major modalities, namely, acupuncture/moxibustion, qigong (vital energy work), and herbal medicine. Acupuncture and qigong are unique to Chinese culture, whereas herbal medicine has been developed in other cultures as well" (p. 191).

Because resources are scarce by definition, it is important for healthcare providers in any setting to use their available resources to their maximum advantage, and the use of these healing techniques alone or in combination have been shown to provide a wide range of positive clinical outcomes in a cost-effective fashion. Although some Western practitioners may be reluctant to use alternative medicine methods in their healing repertoire, this reluctance may be based on a misunderstanding or a lack of awareness of how these methods can be used to good effect (Hsu, 1999). Unfortunately, the precise operations of many of these alternative medicine approaches remain better described than understood, particularly among Western practitioners, making their widespread adoption more complicated still. For instance, Gielen and his associates (2004) emphasize that, "Indigenous Chinese healing (ICH) is a time-tested tradition that has endured for 3000 years. It is also a human-honored medical modality that is not based on generalizations from in vitro experimentation as is conventional biomedicine. Instead, as other approaches involved in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), ICH is derived from one billion people's folk-friendly experiences of in vivo applications" (p. 191). In this environment, identifying similarities and differences between hypnosis, Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung that can promote the appropriate use of these techniques in clinical settings represents a timely and important enterprise as discussed further below.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this study was two-fold:

1. To provide a comparison of hypnosis with Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung through a review of the relevant literature; and

2. To identify how these methods can be used by healthcare practitioners to achieve improved clinical outcomes for various conditions.

Importance of Study

Not only is the United States becoming an increasingly multicultural society, it is also growing older much more rapidly than existing healthcare resources, and this rapidity of growth will mean that the demand for healthcare services will likely outpace any corresponding growth in the healthcare community. Indeed, there are already acute shortages of nurses of all types in the United States, and many experts suggest that the problem has reached crisis proportions. For example, Cohen, Ehrlich-Jones, Burns and Frank-Stromborg (2005) report that, "Although nursing shortages have occurred previously, the current nursing shortage is different because of the attrition of nurses from the practice setting due to increased retirements; the unpredictability of continued, full-time employment even during a time of a nurse workforce shortage; the increased number of emerging roles; and the demand for nurses to fill these and existing roles. Supply and demand of nurses has greatly changed as the aging nurse workforce retires, decreasing the supply, and the breadth of career opportunities for young women broadens, decreasing the number of women who desire to enter the profession" (p. 88). Further demands on this already overburdened system in the future will require a multidisciplinary approach that uses the most cost-effective approach that is known to work, even if the precise reasons for such efficacy remain unknown or understudied. Indeed, to the extent that hypnosis as well as the other meditative approaches examined herein can be used to help patients become healthier faster is the extent that their use should be seriously considered by practitioners of all theoretical persuasions.

Scope of Study

This study examined the use of hypnosis as it is typically used in clinical practice in the West, but the use of Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung in both the East and the West is provided.

Rationale of Study

As noted above, healthcare resources are already stretched to their limits, and the Healthcare Reform Act will likely result in further disruptions in the delivery of healthcare services as the bugs are worked out of the system and clinicians learn how to navigate the new bureaucracies. In this environment, many healthcare providers may be reluctant to expand their current range of treatment modalities unless they can be convinced that these alternative treatment methods are efficacious. Moreover, even assuming that Western healthcare providers accept the efficacy of alternative medicine approaches, they may be reluctant to use them simply because they are unaware of how they are used or for what conditions various treatment modalities are best suited. According to Gielen, Fish and Draguns (2004), the field of psychotherapy was born in the 19th century as a result of the Western practice of separating the mind, body, and spirit into distinct and separate entities. As a result, not only are the mind, body, and spirit separated, but the way in which we approach healing of each of these entities is separated as well. Western medicine has taken this separation to the extreme, with health care specialization even targeting specific body systems or diseases (e.g., cardiology or oncology). Many non-Western cultures approach healing completely differently, both considering the body holistically and also recognizing interactions among mind, body, and spirit.

As society becomes more globalized and multicultural, it will become essential for those who provide health care services to understand the way in which other cultures approach healing. These approaches may include issues varying from the reasons why people seek professional advice to the practices they adopt in order to participate in the healing process (Gielen et al., 2004). Therefore, providing a timely comparison of hypnosis, with which many Western practitioners are already familiar, with the use of Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung just makes good business sense. Based on the dearth of relevant studies in the Western press concerning these treatment modalities, though, the comparison will also draw on anecdotal accounts and empirical observations taken from other resources as well. Taken together, this approach was deemed useful in achieving the above-stated research purpose, at least in a general fashion.

Overview of Study

This study used a five-chapter format to achieve the research purpose stated above. Chapter one of the study was used to provide an introduction of the issues under consideration, as well as a statement of the problem considered by the study as well as the study's purpose, importance, scope and rationale. Chapter two of the study was used to deliver a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature concerning hypnosis, Eastern Meditation, Chi Kung, and Nei Kung. The study's methodology is more fully described in chapter three which provides a description of the study approach, the data-gathering method and the database of study that was consulted. The penultimate chapter consists of a qualitative meta-analysis of the data developed during the research process and… READ MORE

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