Mind Body Science
History
Introduction

You will learn:
– The earliest medicine assumed a connection between
body/mind/spirit.
– A shift began to occur in the 17th century, as science
and technology developed
– Growing understanding of the world changed our
conception of disease
– Beginning in the early 19th century, and continuing to
this day, we see a return to the acceptance of a
body/mind connection.
In The Beginning: Making
Sense of the World
Power of the ancestors
 Power of natural forces
 Power of gods and demons
 Power of prayer and belief

Three sources of mind-body
healing for millennia

Belief and Expectation
– Living in harmony with nature
– Using natural substances to cure

Natural course of Recovery
– Acceptance of death as part of life

Spiritual practices
Beginning understanding of
natural causes of disease
Hippoc
rates
460BC
-370
BC
Yin Yang
and 5
phase
theory:
200s BC
Galen
129217
AD
Hippocrates
Teachings came about in opposition to the
supernaturally based practices of the time
 Beginning of medicine as we know it:
divorced from superstition and
necromancy
 based on observation: rational, empirical
 Ethical: physician’s obligation is to the
patient

Hippocratic principles
Disease seen in context of patient’s life
 Treatment was to restore the natural
conditions and defenses of the sick person
and reestablish his proper relationship to
surroundings.
 Diseases categorized by major symptoms
(confusing causes)
 Seeds of holistic medicine

Aphorisms of Hippocrates
“Life is short, The Art is long, opportunity
is fleeting, experiences delusive, judgment
difficult.”
 Sickness develops when equilibrium is
disturbed: it is the doctor’s role to restore
it

Equilibrium of the 4 humors
Blood (originating in the heart)
 Yellow bile (liver)
 Black bile (spleen)
 Phlegm (brain)
 Related to the 4 elements: fire, air, earth
and water, and the 4 qualities of hot, dry,
cold and wet

THE FOUR
HUMORAL
TYPES OF
COUPLES
(1470 MS)
SANGUINE
PLEGMATIC
MELANCHOLIC
CHOLERIC
Hippocratic physicians sought
the cause of disease:
Understanding the 4 humors, seasons, etc.
 Patient’s constitution - state of the humors
in her body (sanguine, melancholic, bilious,
phlegmatic)
 Observed changes in facial expression,
color, temperature, breathing, body
position, nails, hair, abdominal contour,
tasted blood and urine, smelled stool, etc

Fundamental change in
medicine:
Based on observable
phenomenon
“To help, or at least, do no
harm”
Nature has a curative power
 Natural inclination of the organism is to reestablish equilibrium
 “Most things get better by
themselves…most things, in fact are better
by morning.” (Lewis Thomas)

Galen - 2nd century AD
– Extracted the best from many competing
systems, and led medicine back to direct
observation
– His research into anatomy and physiology led
to a new understanding of the body and how it
gets sick
Galen’s system

based on dissections in anatomy (nonhuman), experiments in physiology and
clinical observation of patients.
– However, he was a man of his time, and
allowed his beliefs to supersede his
observations
Galen’s legacy
Concepts of sickness and its treatment
influenced medicine for centuries - well
into the 1600’s
 His herbal remedies were being used well
into the 20th century

The Renaissance
Cadaver dissections began to be used in
medical training
 Vivisections of small animals were used to
understand organ function
 Galenic errors uncovered, to great
consternation

De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Libra Septem
Produced by Andreas Vesalius in 1543
 Organized in 7 books: bones, muscles,
blood vessels, nerves, abdominal and
reproductive organs
 Represented a revolution in scientific
approach

Vesalius’ Legacy:
Overturned century’s of blind adherence to
Galenic theory and practice
 One of the most influential physicians in
the history of medicine
 Was vilified in his lifetime

The Beginnings of Separation
of Body and Mind
Rene Descartes 17th century: the body as
machine
 The mind cannot directly improve body
health
 The increasing “reductionist” view of
Western medicine
 “I think, therefor I am”

Identity was equated with rational mind
 Led to view of universe as mechanical
system consisting of separate objects
 Body’s innate “knowing” became less
important

The Next Step in the
Development of Medical
Science: Morgagni
Spent his life writing the Seats and Causes
of Disease…
 700 case histories
 The death knell of humoral theory
 Now had to look at “the cries of the
suffering organs”
 Father of pathological anatomy

Giovanni Morgagni cont’d
Father of physical exam
 The goal for drs became to predict autopsy
findings before death
 All teaching hospitals now have the CPC:
clinical pathological correlation…coming
up with the diagnosis based on the s & s.
 This was the Age of Enlightenment questioning age-old paradigms

What are the positive aspects
of the “Cartesian” world view?
Rudolf Virchow - 1850s
Still did not have any effective therapy to
treat disease: could describe organ and
tissue, but not where disease begins
 Microscope became key
 Writes “Cellular Pathology” - read by
everyone
 Abnormality of cellular function: pathophysiology

Virchow, cont’d
All diseases start within the cells
 All cells come from the fertilized egg
 Showed that cancer cells had once been
normal to which something had happened
 In a single stroke, ended the idea of
miasmas
 Father of public health

The “Miraculous” Modern
Medical Machine
Louis Pasteur: Germ theory of disease1850s
 Joseph Lister: development of antiseptic
procedures
 Robert Koch: identified specific
organisms responsible for specific diseases
 - 1880s

Success of antibiotics was
profound
Whole hospitals were emptied with the
discovery of penicillin
 Saved thousands of lives of WW II
wounded

Surgery and Drugs Became
the Treatments of Choice
Tendency to misuse and overuse
successful drugs (antibiotics
being used on viruses), and to
overemphasize the power of
surgery
Placebo becomes a bad word
Unethical to give an inert substance to a
patient with the promise that “this will
make you feel better”
 The placebo effect in double-blind
controlled studies was dismissed as “all in
the mind”

The Return to Ancient Roots
Oliver Wendell Holmes - 19th century mind can affect body and good bedside
manner
 William James: further observations of
mind body connections
 Walter Bradford Cannon: the ID of the
fight or flight response; revived the
concept of homeostasis

It’s True! Body and Mind are
Related
Freud and Psychoanalysis
 1929 Progressive Relaxation
 Autogenic training
 Acceptance of ‘psychosomatic illnesses”
 Research into the physiologic effects of
stress

Medical Breakthroughs since
the 1960s
Identification of the relaxation response
 Expanded understanding of the placebo
effect
 Linking of mind body treatments to an
increasing number of health conditions
 Studies now showing that mind body
approaches can actually alter genetic
expression and bolster health

The Present
Research has legitimized the mind-body
connection
 Government funding available
 Leading hospitals and medical schools
have instituted Mind-Body Programs
 “Integrative Medicine” “Complementary
And Alternative Medicine” are accepted

Therapies include:
Yoga
 Meditation
 Mindfulness practices
 Nutrition
 Hypnosis
 Positive thinking, visualization
 Self-expression: art, dance, sound

Additional Therapies
Acupuncture
 Bio-feedback
 Exercise
 Massage
 Alexander Technique
 Feldenkrais
 Rolfing

Summary
Ancient wisdom held body, mind and spirit
as one
 Separation began in the 17th century
 Ancient wisdom returns, blessed by the
medical establishment
 Increased understanding of the
physiological changes of stress and
relaxation

This is the language that is now used
by business, sports, the arts, all of
your future clients: you need to
know how to speak the language of
body mind science.
“Where there is love of human kind,
there is also love of the art of
medicine.”
Hippocrates
We shall not cease from
exploration, and the result of
all our exploring will be to
arrive where we started, and
know the place for the first
time.
TS Eliot
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