Page 87 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

fr oM carative fa c to r 2 t o C a r i t as Pr oC e s s 2
evil spirits, as well as diverse efforts to bring forth or call out help from
the nonphysical spirit world to the physical plane, to reestablish har-
mony and balance and healing.
Mesmer, in the late eighteenth century, was the first to publicly
draw attention to the importance of mental treatments as having a
direct bearing on illness. He was considered the father of hypnosis
and came to treat illness, after trying several different approaches,
through what was and is still known as “mesmerism,” or suggestion—
later explored as the phenomenon still known clinically as hypnosis.
Hypnosis continues to be used and researched today for addressing
a variety of medical and psychological conditions—for example, the
relief of minor headache pain, the elimination of major symptoms
of illness, and use as an anesthetic during surgical procedures. The
effects of hypnosis and placebos, both forms of suggestion, are linked
to authentic presence and enabling faith and hope.
More recently, numerous studies have shown the role and power
of (caring) relationships in affecting the outcome of illness and diag-
nosis. Caring relationships (Carative Factor 4) explore the importance
of relationship but within the context of faith-hope. The presence of a
caring professional may be a source of enabling, sustaining, and hon-
oring the other’s belief system and source of hope.
Many believe that when all else fails, something “still needs to be
done.” In many instances that something is having faith in a person, a
health regime, or a belief system to carry them through.
Some have posited that the present era is the “beginning of the
end of physical (Era I) medicine” (where the focus is on the body as
machine and on physical-material, external medical interventions), as
we have known it to be over the past century. We must increasingly
acknowledge worldwide that allopathic medicine, as practiced in the
Westernized, scientific world, is only one of a number of ways peo-
ple seek treatment and cures. Millions of people continue to believe
that the movement of the stars and constellations, if properly inter-
preted (astrological predictions), can reveal their fate. Intelligent peo-
ple have sought nonscientific approaches when faced with unknowns
and life crises, especially when the condition seems hopeless and noth-
ing more can be done “medically.” However, people can always call

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