Therapy for Healthy

As an online writer I often find myself writing about a cause in the world larger than a single individual. Occasionally someone or some group asks to write on a certain subject that is very important and a worthy cause and it just so happens that ABA Therapy; Applied Behavioral Analysis for Autistic Children is such a cause.

You each year more and more children are born with autism and researchers and scientist have hundreds of theories why. It is becoming a huge issue in our civilization and it is behooves us to find ways to make sure that; No Child is Left Behind. Recently I got an email from a concerned father who stated;

“I’m hoping that you can advocate for the rights of children on the autism spectrum. As a father of a wonderful 6-year-old autistic boy, it is so disheartening and disconcerting to fight our school district for desperately needed services. (We are proponents of ABA therapy, Applied Behavioral Analysis, as it has provided such great benefits for my son. Indeed, intensive one-to-one therapy, regardless of the methodology, should help all children, particularly those with special needs.)”

Indeed one-on-one therapy, assistance and help makes sense and it would behoove each parent to get involved in the Autistic Organizations to better understand how best to help these children. Science is a little behind the times and each brain based on genetics works a little different and we must not cause ourselves to waste little humans when they need our attention to help nurture them along.

Parents will need to spend more time with their autistic children and should learn how to best make the most of their time, because it does not look like the school systems have the patience, funding or abilities to deal with our Autistic Children and there are more and more of them born into our society each and every year. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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Abstract art is not just a mixture of colourful meaningless patterns and arbitrary shapes.

There is, I believe, a definate therapeutic value to be found in most of the enigmatic marks made by the very different styles available today. What appears to be the most important decision to make is a very careful consideration of the specific audience in conjunction with the choosing of the appropriate artwork. This is not something to be taken lightly or quickly. This can cover anybody within the wide spectrum of individual audiences: a busy boardroom environment or a single office or room where quick thinking, fast reactions, and serious decision making is required; or a worker who returns from a hard days work simply wanting to be visually massaged by an easily observed enigma; or even the space inwhich the desperate and mostly misunderstood person who is gradually loosing their tentative hold on the sense of reality. There is a tremendous variety of possibilities.

Here are some suggested associations from one artists point of view:

Colour plays an obvious healing and therapeutic role to be found in a carefully selected crafted piece, and so colour-field work, which is growing in popularity, first conceived by artists like Mark Rothko and Ellsworth Kelly with their vast areas of empty colour space, might add a general feeling of peace and quiet to an otherwise noisy and hectic environment. With there being very few variations within such a large image a gentle sense of immersion into abstract stillness can slow down any fretful or irratic thinking, and even assist with the adrenal challenge of a creative.

Indefinate shapes or patterns by the likes of Jackson Pollock, Peter Lanyon, and Howard Hodgkin (again, similar works inspired by these very different abstract styles can be seen in many exhibitions, shops and galleries), show a very positive association, and may perhaps persuade a mind filled with illogical thoughts to pause, simply take in the apparent spontenaiety, and then take a different direction. Hodgkin style works in particular can be seen as puzzle like canvases inwhich the observer has no real point of reference so is free to “start” anywhere upon the picture. And because there are very few defined areas sometimes the observer inevitably finds themself either regarding the piece with little emotion, and therefore can freely make a comment - positive or not.

Let us not deny, however, the fact that many an image that has the potential to provoke a negative response can also be of great value to the observer who might actually benefit from seeing such a challenging picture that bears such a bad association. Better there on the wall than here inside the head. In this case the classic associations of red for blood and danger, black for death and sin, brown for decay and illness, along with dramatic lines and movements found in a painting are equally valuable stimulii if revealed within the appropriate environment. This comes back to my point made at the beginning - when choosing a picture, very careful consideration must be taken in order to find that one work of art which speaks directly to the very deepest parts of the observer.

Tim Seaward is the author of “Abstract Art as Therapy”. He is also a practicing fine artist living and working in the UK. Visit his site to find out exactly what he paints. http://www.ablot.com or mailto:tim[at]ablot.com (replace [at] with @)

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The recent January 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal suggested patients be advised that magnetic therapy has no proved benefits. They argued that only blinded randomized controlled trials can prove medical benefit, and that it is difficult to study magnets in a blinded fashion.

The editorial obscures an important truth about research and real world healing. If we were to apply this standard to all medicines, we’d also have to point out that many common surgeries and medical procedures also have no proved health benefit. Few of them have been studied in randomized controlled trials, and they cost at least as much as magnetic healing does. But no one complains about that. This exemplifies the double standard the medical establishment applies to alternative medicine.

A randomized controlled trial of arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis found it to be no more efficacious than placebo, yet this surgery is performed on more than 600,000 people per year. This study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2002.

The British Medical Journal editorial is at odds with the results of more than 300 favorable studies of powerful magnetic therapy for diseases including arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine, multiple sclerosis, pain, sinusitis, and insomnia. Abstracts of these studies are available for free at The FeelGood Store. What’s more, an expert review of 18 high quality randomized controlled trials of magnetic therapy for pain concluded that the weight of the evidence favors magnetic pain relief. This review was published in June 2005 in the Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine.

The BMJ editor forgets that consumers are shrewd. If magnets don’t work, they’ll demand a refund or spread negative word of mouth. Plus, recent research continues to explain close relationship between nerves, the brain, and the immune system. The same neurovasculoimmune mechanisms that make acupuncture work explain how magnets heal the body. Nerves work via electricity and magnetic fields affect the flow of electricity.

The FeelGood Store has been providing customers with superior pain relief, beauty, fitness, and wellness products via mail order and the internet since 1993. They sell a variety of magnetic products including bracelets and joint supports.

1. Editorial: Magnet therapy: Extraordinary claims, but no proved benefits. BMJ 2006;332:4 (7 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7532.4

2. Moseley JB, O’Malley K, Petersen NJ, Menke TJ, Brody BA, Kuykendall DH, Hollingsworth JC, Ashton CM, Wray NP. A controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 11;347(2):81-8
3. A critical review of randomized controlled trials of static magnets for pain relief. Eccles NK. J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Jun;11(3):495-509.

Brian B. Carter, MS is a San Diego e-business, copywriting, and adwords consultant, particularly in online health. Brian is also a licensed San Diego acupuncturist and herbalist. He teaches in the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine’s masters program and is the author of Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind. His broad background and diverse talents uniquely qualify him to provide and teach solutions that yield online results and ROI.

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