Since religion appears to promote health, perhaps physicians should consider attending to their patients' spiritual beliefs.

Over 94% of the American public believes in a God or a "higher power," and most claim that religion is "fairly" or "very" important in their lives. However, American physicians tend to be less likely than their patients to believe in God -- only 64% compared to 91%, one survey found.

Previous reviews examining the effects of religious commitment on healthcare outcomes, 75% showed a positive benefit, 17% had mixed or no effect, and 7% showed a negative effect.

It really seems like medical malpractice not to incorporate a spiritual dimension into the practice of medicine. However, I am not implying that doctors proselytize to patients about their own spiritual beliefs.

I have found that journaling for ten minutes every day is very helpful, especially if one either burns the paper afterwards or does not save the file. Knowing that no one will ever see what is written allows one to express themselves more freely. The trick is to not stop typing or writing for the full ten minutes - just write continuously. It is a very powerful form of prayer and particularly helpful for improving health or recovering from traumas.

If you are interested in the strong connection between spiritual health and physical health, you can browse through the many articles listed on our Prayer/Faith/Religion index page. You may also want to check out the web site of the The National Institute for Healthcare Research, a privately funded, nonprofit organization, which is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the connection between spirituality and health.

I have also found EFT to be a useful adjunct to the grieving process. Earlier this week I treated a patient whose mother recently died. She was understandably distraught and all she could remember was entering the room where her mom was dying. Her mother had difficulty breathing and was gasping for breath, which shocked and stunned my patient. She couldn't get the image from her mind. She would continuously dwell on it and, on a scale of 1 to 10 for disrupting her life, it was a 10.

I lead her through a round of EFT which lasted about two minutes. The image was lifted and she was able to go on with her life again.

There are a number of clinicians who use EFT. You can find a list at Gary Craig's website.

Alternatively, if you are interested in learning EFT yourself, read my free EFT manual.

If you are a health care practitioner and are interested in attending one of the top energy training events of 2002, you will be certain to want to come to Chicago in September for Dr. Larry Nims's BSFF course.

Related Articles:

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Writing (Journaling) About Stress Helps Asthma, Arthritis

Spirituality Important for Health

Spirituality Cuts Mortality Risk

Physicians' Protocol For Using Antibiotics in Rheumatic Disease

Religion and Depression