PEDIATRICS Vol. 97 No. 5 May 1996, pp. 618
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HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS TURN TO SPIRITUAL HEALING

J. F. L. MD

The psychological and spiritual sides of healing, long poor cousins of mainstream medicine, are finding new support from some institutions with growing power in medical care: health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

At a recent conference here, Dr Herbert Benson, President of the Harvard Medical School's Mind/Body Medical Institute, said that his office at Harvard was now getting five or six calls a week from HMOs that were interested in the medical uses of relaxation and other nontraditional treatment methods. The reason, he said, is clear: if such methods succeed reliably in reducing workload, they are "just plain money in the bank for the HMOs."

. . . The recent conference in Boston was a milestone in the growth of interest in what is sometimes called behavioral medicine.

A few years ago this would have been the farthest fringe of medicine. And even now there was a hint of sideshow. There were snake handlers here, and some recommended the snakes as a way to induce relaxation.