The Healing Power of Love
It’s a treatment that comes in a remarkable variety of forms and dosages, is abundant, non-toxic, costs nothing, can be self-administered, and yet it bears the most potent healing power known to mankind. So, why hasn’t this treatment made medical headlines worldwide? Perhaps because it is not patentable and cannot be bottled or sold. Or, perhaps, because in this age of technology we have surrendered our power to science, ignoring the wisdom of our own hearts. What is this magical treatment? It is, quite simply, LOVE.
And yet, there is nothing simple about it. It comes in numerous potencies and forms: compassion, charity, respect, nurturance, empathy, reverence, concern, camaraderie, understanding, agape, affection, gratitude, eros, social support — in fact, any kind of caring imaginable. As a feeling, an expression, or a vibration, it signifies a connectedness to other beings, and to all of life. “The more connected you are to life, the healthier you are”, declared Dr. James Lynch, a specialist in psychosomatic medicine at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine.(1) ” ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is not just a moral mandate. It’s a physiological mandate,” he remarks. Let us look at some of the reasons one might assert this.
Altruistic actions, thoughts and emotions stimulate the brain to release endorphins, powerful natural painkillers which enhance our mood as well as our immunity, and help protect us from the deleterious effects of stress. In two major studies on volunteerism, “healthy-helper syndrome” was identified as a side-effect of altruism, resulting in reduced arthritis pain, fewer lupus symptoms, a reductions in the number of asthma attacks, migraines, colds, and in the incidence of flu.(2)
It is interesting that some academic studies, which set out to demonstrate other objectives, ended up documenting the effectiveness of caring. Such is the case with one Ohio State University study by Glaser and Kiecollt-Glaser. The study demonstrated that only half of the rabbits which were fed a high-cholesterol diet ended up with the predicted high cholesterol. The mystery was unraveled when it was discovered that the diminutive lab assistant had cuddled the bunnies in the accessible lower cages, but could only throw the food into the cages of their deprived counterparts in the top cages. Similar health-protective results have come from other signs of caring, such as social or tactile stimulation. These results have been documented in studies of premature babies, nursing home residents, burn patients, orphans, alcoholics, and people with tuberculosis, arthritis, and heart disease.(3)
To receive one of these health-enhancing love treatments, all you have to do is locate a listening ear, and share your woes. It has been shown in studies conducted by Dr. James Pennebaker of Southern Methodist University that several immune functions are elevated in people confiding in others, and the effects can last as long as six weeks.(4) If a human ear is unavailable, a furry one will do quite nicely. Among victims of heart attacks, pet owners are five times as likely to survive as those without pets.(5)
Perhaps the most remarkable treatment effect is that the observer benefits, as well, from loving thoughts and behavior. An illustration of this “observer effect” is a Harvard study in which volunteers’ salivary immunoglobulin was tested before and after viewing three films, including one on Mother Teresa and her work. After seeing the video on Mother Teresa, the viewers’ markers improved an average of 50%.(6)
There may be a minimum daily requirement for love in the form of companionship and social support. In numerous studies on 37,000 people over two decades, it was shown that loneliness doubles the chances of sickness or death.(7) In fact, Kraus & Lilienfeld found in 1959 that widowers have a death rate three to five times higher than married men of the same age for every cause of death.(8)
Love, in the potency we describe as romantic love, has been studied at the Menninger Clinic. The results indicate that people in love had white blood cells which were significantly more active in fighting infection. This apparently had the effect of inoculating star-struck lovers against colds.(9)
Perhaps the most amazing and convenient characteristic of love as a therapeutic agent is its ability to be administered long distance, not just over the phone, but through prayer. Dr. Larry Dossey recounts the power of prayer in the Spindrift Studies. The “patients” who responded to this treatment happened to be plants. Dr. Dossey reported that prayer works best when the recipient is stressed, is known to you, when the prayer is nondirective (“Let whatever is best happen”), and when the one who is praying is experienced at prayer. Dr. Dossey concluded that the effect of kind thoughts “…on living organisms outside the human body was significant, quantifiable, and reproducible.”(10) Similarly, human cardiac patients in a famous study conducted at San Francisco General Hospital by Dr. Randy Byrd also responded well to prayer. They had significantly fewer complications and required less medication. (11)
Volumes of persuasive data exist which point to the possibility that LOVE could be the “magic bullet” for which scientists and physicians have been searching. I highly recommend that you avail yourself of every opportunity to give and receive this healing balm — no prescription necessary.
And don’t forget to take a dose of your own medicine!
(1) Brent Q. Hafen, Kathryn J. Frandsen, Keith J. Karren, Keith R. Hooker, The Health Effects of Attitudes, Emotions, Relationships, (Provo, Utah: EMS Associates, 1992), p. 261.
(2) Hafen et al, p. 412.
(3) Robert Ornstein and Charles Swencionis, editors, The Healing Brain: a Scientific Reader, (New York: The Guilford Press, 1990), p. 88.
(4) Hafen et al, p. 260.
(5) Ibid., p. 304.
(6) Ibid., P. 404.
(7) Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than I.Q., (New York: Bantam Books, 1995), p. 178.
(8) Ornstein and Swencionis, p. 35.
(9) Hafen et al, p. 416.
(10) Larry Dossey, M.D., Recovering the Soul: a Scientific and Spiritual Search, (New York: Bantam Books, 1989), pp. 54-62.
(11) Hafen et al, p. 388.
